It's Just A Game!
by Alexandria Volturi
Summary: Ashe Lewis is a normal adverage girl who thinks DMC is stupid. Oh, Ashe how cruel of you to say that friends of her say. She's in for a rude awakening when she ends in the game itself. Devil May Cry 4 to be precise, now she must beat the game to get back home. But how well will that go? Nero X Oc. Rated T for language and slight gore
1. How the world ends

**Alex: This idea came about when I was playing DMC 4, so I hope you guys' like it. Enjoy^^**

**I will take any review but FLAMES are not allowed**

**XxxXxx**

**Chapter 1: How the world ends**

_Some say the world will end in fire,_

_Some say in ice._

The things I've seen and encountered I have seen the world almost end with demons. Yes, demons. Your initial thought is that I'm crazy and that demons and such aren't real.

There real as could be I saw them first hand and battled them even, my fighting skills were not the greatest. They still aren't though I'm getting better to say the least.

It all started when I saw my little brother playing the game Devil May Cry, he got me to play a little of it.

Though that involved yelling such as:

_"Your going the wrong way!"_

_"Hurry attack, attack!"_

_"Activate your devil trigger"_

_"How do you do that?"_

_"Ahh evil creepy puppet don't touch me!"_

_"Your hopeless"_

_"Well sorry I don't know how to play this stupid game"_

Yes, I called the game stupid now your thinking how dare you call this awesome game stupid.

Believe me my mind was changed as soon as I lived the game itself. I don't even know how it happened but it did. I ended in the game the fourth one to be exact, I started out in Fortuna and met a boy named Nero.

Let me tell you we butted heads a lot but that's another story of our journey together.

Now you guys' think I'm even more crazy that I said I ended up in a video game. And probably saying "We called some very nice men in white to help you."

Believe what you want. But, could you please listen to my story?

My story of what happened my story of trying to get home. Half the time I didn't know what was going. That being I've never played the fourth one, my little brother started me off on the first one.

Playing the game was one thing**(Even though I died half the time…..well make that all the time)** having it be your reality was another.

I guess fate really hates me for what I had to encounter, or in a way it was a blessing. Yeah, I don't understand how it was a miracle but in my mind it was.

My little brother calls me ash try, my parents call me sweetie, Nero calls me annoying girl.

**(Jerk)**

But you guys can call me Ashe**(See where my little bro's nickname comes from)** this is my story. One I will never forget, enter the story of a normal girl ending in the DMC world. Encountering demons, butting heads with Nero, meeting Dante the son of Sparda, befriending Kyrie, and saving the world. It was mainly Dante and Nero no matter how much they say I helped too.

I'm just a weak human enough said.

_From what I've tasted of desire_

_I hold with those who favor fire_

_But if it had to perish twice,_

_I think I know enough of hate_

_To say that for destruction ice_

_Is also great_

_And would suffice._

Though I say the world will end with demons. That is until Dante and Nero come and kick their asses back to hell.

That to me will suffice.

**XxxXxx**

**Alex: Just a prologue but what do you guys think of it. Please review^^**


	2. In DMC 4,your joking right?

**Alex: Hope you enjoy this chapter^^**

**Edit note: Yo. You can call me Wolf. I'm looking through this for Alex, but I'm not a professional so…you see any mistakes…My bad. _Thoughts are in Italics_**

**XxxXxx**

**Chapter 2: In DMC 4, you're joking right?**

_When life gives you lemons, squirt them in your enemies' eyes. In this case aim for your brother._

**Ashe's POV**

"Daemon I'm going to kill you!" I screamed running through the house like a mad woman. All the while, my little brother laughed in glee. To give you a summary of what happened, Daemon thought it would be funny to put on a Halloween mask and scare the flipping crap out of me. The mask he chose was a demonic looking one, it did not end well.

Quickening my pace I successfully grabbed him by the arm and turned him around glaring all the while.

He just gave me an innocent smile, his blue eyes staring into my mismatched blue and green ones.

"Why did you do that?" I asked him. He just smiled at me with that stupid innocent look still on his face.

"I thought I'd be funny" he bluntly said. I let his arm go as he shuffled over to his PS3, and turned it on.

"No offense ash-tray but if you were in Devil May Cry you'd get killed" he said starting up said game.

I rolled my eyes at him and shook my head. "Well than it's a good thing it's just a game. Speaking of games…don't you think you should stop playing them? You're going into eighth grade soon" I asked him watching the screen. He was all excited that he finally got the fourth game installment.

He wasn't playing the character Dante it was some guy in a blue coat. I shrugged, it was just a stupid game.

"So I can play this game all I want" he retorted back. Again I rolled my eyes.

"Whatever you choose to do is up to you. I'm going out" I said. Earning a:

"**Die demons die**!"

"_He is way too into this game"_ I thought strapping on my knee-high converses and stepping outside.

The dim sunlight was barely enough to see by as I began walking down the street. _"I think it was supposed to rain…I better hurry. I don't want to get caught in it on the way home."_ As I walked down the road past the familiar houses of my neighborhood a fog started rolling it. I just shrugged it off, it wasn't that thick. I could still see.

I was wrong to think the fog wouldn't thicken; soon I had to stop as vision became impossible. "The weatherman said it was supposed to get foggy today…but not _this_ foggy" I muttered to myself. I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face. I was waving it and everything. Since I was temporally blind, I took slow easy steps as I tried to traverse though the thick mist.

After ten minutes the fog started to fade little by little and the sun started to come out. It was no longer dim outside; rather the sun was fully shinning.

"_Well…The Weatherman is a liar. No rain today! Hah!"_

I froze in my tracks as I looked around. This…didn't look like my neighborhood and it certainly didn't look like Michigan.

"_Where am I?"_

All the buildings were made of stone and the streets were cobblestone. A fountain stood to my left. The sound of the water coming out reached my ears as I looked around confused. This…this wasn't right.

People walked around me giving me confused and weird looks as I looked about. I even turned a full in a circle a couple of times.

Feeling a tap on my shoulder I looked back and saw a girl standing behind me with a smile on her face.

Her light brown hair was put up in a ponytail, and she wore a pure white dress that had slits at the ends with black boots. Small heels were on them as gold thread lined parts of the dress.

It was actually really pretty and that was coming from someone who hated dresses.

"Um, hi" I smiled still confused. Who was she?

"Hello I'm Kyrie. I was wondering are you new to Fortuna?" she asked clasping her hands behind her back.

"_Fortuna…why does that name sound familiar to me? I can't quite place my finger on it but it is definitely familiar…"_

"I'm Ashe and yeah I'm new." I said following along with what she had asked. The girl named Kyrie nodded the smile still on her face.

"I thought so. If you want I can show you around later?" she offered/asked. My eyes widened, she just met me and she was offering to help me?

"Sure thanks" I smiled back. Kyrie nodded and clapped her hands together. I noticed the people who were walking around us were all headed to a church like place. I cocked my head to the side, it wasn't Sunday and they were heading to church… "Why is everyone going there?" I pointed.

"Today's the Festival of the Sword. Almost everyone is going to the opera house, his Holiness will be speaking there, and I'll be singing" Kyrie informed me. I nodded in understanding.

"You should come" Kyrie smiled, an excited glint entering her brown eyes. My eyes widened. _"She wants me to come too?"_

I was never one for church, and I'm still not, but considering she's my only way around Fortuna. I had no choice.

"Sounds fun, I'll go" I told her. She smiled, took my hand gently, and started walking in the direction of the opera house.

The entire way I was getting more and more stares. Glancing around I noticed that all the people here were wearing outfits like Kyrie's. _"They must be staring at my clothes."_ I mentally huffed. There was nothing wrong with them.

All I was wearing was black cargo pants with my knee high converses, a white tank top and my dark blue jacket.

My pants were almost army style so they had a couple of pockets on them. One pocket held my stash of sweets. The other had my iPod but that was about it.

As we walked up the stairs the name Fortuna suddenly clicked.

Fortuna was the place in that Devil May Cry 4 game.

"_No way. There is _no way_ it could be the same place. It's a joke…a lie. A dream?"_

**XxxXxx**

**Alex: That's the chapter next chapter of course Nero and Dante come in so until then please review^^**

**Wolf: Yeah. Review. Alex works hard on this. She deserved them.**


	3. Your stuck with me

**Alex: Chapter three will be long I'm not gonna end it till mission 2 is over so I hope you enjoy it. I also noticed Kyrie as red hair so I apologize for screwing it up.**

**Wolf: Yo again. I'm just letting everyone know I've never played DMC4 I'm just checking over the chapters. Also, Alex wasn't aiming to make any religious person who reads this offended, so please don't take offense!**

**Alex: Yes, I wasn't trying to offend anyone with what I said I believe in God and everything. Just with one part where Ashe is being ridiculed I've known from experience .**

**XxxXxx**

**Chapter 3: You're stuck with me**

_It's you and me against the world….we attack at dawn! Technically sunset though._

**Ashe's POV**

When Kyrie and I entered the opera house I was blown away by how calm it felt inside. It almost made me feel…secure, safe. Almost.

I felt calm, but also uneasy. I couldn't really put my finger on it, but I felt like something evil was here, inside the opera house with me.

I shrugged it off. It was probably just my imagination running wilder then Daemon's.

Upon our arrival I got the pleasure of meeting Kyrie's older brother Credo. She explained he was the Supreme General of the Holy Knights of the Order of the Sword.

Whatever that was.

He had brown hair that was a tad long with a beard on his chin. He seemed rather stern if you asked me.

After introductions were done Kyrie pointed out where I could sit. Rows upon rows of seats were behind us with a bunch of people already sitting. What I didn't understand was why they were all wearing white hoods. Like Assassin's Creed or something. _"Did she bring me to a Cult meeting? Why are they all wearing a uniform?"_

"My friend Nero will be coming soon, but there's enough room to fit all three of us" Kyrie explained with a smile. I nodded and smiled back.

"And if it somehow doesn't I can just sit on the floor" I said. Earning a frown from Credo who I rolled my eyes at when he looked away.

"You'll do great with your solo Kyrie" I told her. She smiled at me.

"Thank you" she said before heading away to get ready. I took that as my cue to go to my seat. Everyone was quiet as I walked over to my seat. My footsteps echoed as I walked on the marble floor, the zippers on the back of my shoes also made noise, and as I walked everyone turned to stare at me. It didn't matter that I couldn't see their eyes staring at me. I could feel their eyes burning into my skull. _"If this doesn't stop real soon, I'm going to _give_them something to stare at!"_

I tried to ignore them all, but all the staring made me feel even more uneasy than before. I quickened my pace and headed to the third row of seats to sit down next to the guy who was staring at me with a weird expression on his face. Just like all the others.

I waved at him and he looked away, but I faintly heard him mumble something under his breath. Something along the lines of:

"Just like that boy"

I was confused by his words but shrugged them off; it wasn't any of my business anyway.

The room dimmed a bit as Kyrie mysteriously appeared on stage. She still wore the same dress, but black shawls were draped over her arms. I could faintly see a pattern of roses on the fabric. Golden earrings dangled from her ears and she wore some type of crown. The spotlight was on her as well as everyone's eyes.

Music softly played through the area as she took a deep breath and began singing. My mouth dropped open in shock. Her voice was amazing, she sounds like an angel. I quickly closed my mouth and I listened closely to her voice.

I've heard people sing before.

I've heard my friends, my mother, and people on American Idol sing. No offense to anyone but Kyrie beat them all.

When there was an instrumental moment in the music, she looked over to where I sat. A saddened look crossed her face, and I assumed it was because that Nero guy hadn't show up yet.

I gave her a reassuring smile and a thumbs-up. She smiled and nodded as she began singing once more.

As she sang I finally noticed the statue behind her, it looked like a demon. Its hands were clasped together holding a sword.

It clicked in my head that it was Sparda. I may hate this game, but Daemon never shut up about it, he had even forced me to watch him play on several occasions but that was a different story. There was no way _that_name wouldn't have imprinted itself into my brain.

None of that mattered however, considering as far as I'm concerned this is all just a dream. There was no _way_ this was really happening.

I heard a thud next to me and looked over. I assumed the person who had just sat next to me was Nero. Decked out it a long blue coat and a sling on his arm, he looked over at me and glared.

I glared back at him which only caused him to glare harder at me. I rolled my eyes at him and turned back to Kyrie who was finishing her solo.

Her voice echoed everywhere as she sang a high-pitched note. Afterwards it was silent as the crowd erupted into applause. I clapped to as she looked over a bright big smile over took her face. Happy to see Nero I bet.

I closed my eyes a bit and mentally groaned. The guy in the blue coat Daemon was playing as at home was Nero. The guy my brother was playing as was sitting next to me. _"This is so messed up. I don't care if it is a dream. Why would I even dream this crap?"_

After Kyrie stepped offstage, an old man got up and stood before us, he was dressed like a Priest from my perspective. The applause died down as he began to speak.

**"2,000 years ago"**he started. I groaned quietly causing the guy from earlier, not Nero though I think he looked over at me as well, but the guy who I waved at earlier to shoot me and glare. I glared back at him, sneering a little. He quickly looked away from me, and went back to staring at the Priest.

I've had years or practice glaring at people thanks to Daemon. He's my personal little demon… but I still love him anyway.

"_I already know all this stuff from playing the first Devil May Cry game! Come on! I don't want to sit through this again."_My opinion didn't matter though, as the Priest just kept talking.

**"The dark knight"** Pause for dramatic effect. **"Sparda, turned against his demon brethren"** the Priest continued.

"To save all of humanity" I muttered under my breath rolling my eyes. I've heard this a thousand times. Daemon had ensured I basically _memorized_the entire legend considering how much he talked about the entire Devil May Cry series.

It got annoying after a while.

Once again the guy looked over at me and shushed me, I shushed him back.

**"And took up his sword to save mankind"** priest dude continued. It is official. It's a church.

**"Though despite his brave efforts in our names, I fear some have forgotten the truth of that great sacrifice" **he stated with a sad look on his face.

"Maybe," I whispered under my breath "that's because as far as everyone else is concerned demons aren't real. How do you to expect them to know who the hell Sparda is?" I lay my chin on my hand with my arm resting on my knee. I knew there was a bored expression on my face.

Nero had his leg across his knee and was shaking it. I could tell he was annoyed. I could also hear the hard rock music blaring from his headphones around his neck. It was actually a band I recognized. _"Hmm…He has good taste in music."_

From the corner of my eye I saw Credo look over and give Nero and me an annoyed look. I ignored it as I listened to his Holiness continue to preach.

**"If the events of that terrible time were to reoccur,"**he started. The guy from earlier once again looked in my direction, but this time his look was aimed at Nero.

Nero sent him a glare causing the man to move away and mumble "They are so alike"

I rolled my eyes we're far from alike, and besides… this was just a dream. Daemon was playing his game, and I just passed out on the couch when I got home.

"Demons will rain into the human world" I muttered. I curse myself for knowing this stuff. _"Daemon I blame you for this! It is completely your fault!"_

Kyrie soon came back and gave Nero and me a smile. I waved at her and mouthed 'good job'. She nodded as Nero looked at her. He soon grabbed his head phones and put them on, looking away from her.

Kyrie frowned a bit and looked down but soon smiled. A blue box was sitting on the seat next to him…a present for her. She smiled at him and sat down holding the box to her heart.

**"Let us pray"** priest said. I blinked a couple of times _"What did I miss? Oh well, I didn't really care what he said."_

Everyone in the room clasped their hands together and bowed their heads down in prayer. I looked around, lost as hell. Who the heck do I pray too!?

"_To God or to Sparda? I thought I heard Savior when I zoned out? What's going on?"_I glanced around again. _"Screw it I'm doing nothing. I was never a religious person anyway. I'm basically an atheist."_

The room was dead silent all except Nero's headphones. Speaking of which, it seems like he's had enough seeing as he stood up. Kyrie looked up confused.

"Nero…what's wrong?" she asked concerned.

"I'm outta here" he stated.

"But it's not over yet" she said leaning forward in her seat.

"All this preaching's putting me to sleep. And it looks like she's gonna pass out any minute" Nero stated pointing to me at the end. He began walking away, Kyrie followed him closely, and not knowing what to do I moved to follow Kyrie. We stopped when Nero stopped. I glanced at him, and I saw his sling was glowing blue.

Wait….What?

I jumped when I heard the sound of glass shattering. Everyone seemed to be looking up as the stained glass fell to the floor and a man clad in red and black fell from above.

The red duster was a total give away to who he was. Dante Sparda.

He fell down in front of his Holiness, and everyone was frozen in shock at what they were seeing.

A lone gunshot echoed around the silent opera house. Dante slowly turned around to face the crowd of people.

Crimson blood was splashed across his face, and that's when hell broke loose.

Everyone was running away scrabbling to get away from Dante. _"Wait…I thought Dante didn't kill humans? What the Hell?"_His Holiness looked pretty human to me. _"What's going on?"_

"Your Holiness!" I heard Credo cry. Sounds of swords being unsheathed brought me back to reality as the screams of terror filled my ears.

Soldiers ran forward to kill Dante for what he did though it was futile.

He was too quick and strong for the soldiers. He kicked one to start the battle off. Then he grabbed the large sword that was on his back and began slashing away with quick precision and balance.

Blood sprayed in the air as he cut them down mercilessly and I did nothing but watch. It wasn't that I was afraid to move…I was pretty sure I was in shock._"Maybe…this isn't a dream? It seems real."_

I pulled to my senses when I felt Kyrie grab my hand, Nero had hers as he ran off. The blue box she once held fell from her grasp.

Nero shielded Kyrie as he checked to see if Dante was coming over. He wasn't, so he put his hand on her back and ushered her towards the door. All the while she held onto my hand.

"_Why was she doing this? We just met so why did she care?"_

Don't get me wrong, I had friends who cared about me, but this feeling of security that Kyrie was giving to me...it felt familiar…it reminded me of my mother.

I shook my head_"Now's not the time to be thinking! Focus Ashe!"_

From the corner of my eye I saw Dante heading for Credo. Kyrie saw too for she pulled away from Nero's grasp.

"Credo!" she screamed running towards him.

"Kyrie!" Nero and I cried in unison. I understood what she was doing, if it happened to Daemon I would do the same thing. No matter how annoying he is, he'll always be my little demon of a brother, and there's no way I would have sat there if Dante was rushing Daemon with his sword.

As Kyrie ran to her brother, Dante knocked down a soldier who was going to strike him from behind. Said solider crashed into Kyrie knocking her to the ground, and I quickly ran forward to help her.

I slid on my knees and grabbed her shoulders as she looked up fear in her eyes. I followed her gaze and saw Dante standing before us.

No emotions played across my face as I stared up at him. I wasn't angry with him; as far as I was concerned he had done nothing wrong. I didn't hate him, because he hadn't given me a reason to hate him.

Mix-matched eyes met blue.

I heard a growl from behind and soon saw Nero fly through the air in front of us as he kicked Dante in the face with both feet.

"Holy shit!" I cried surprised at the force of the attack. It sent him flying into the air!

Nero flipped back and grabbed a pistol from his waist and quickly shot. Two bullets zoomed out and towards Dante.

Said man blocked it with his sword and landed on the statue of Sparda. With a burst of speed Nero was in the air going to attack again. Dante blocked as they fell on to the arms of Sparda, their guns pointed at each other.

The battle was on.

"Nero!" Kyrie cried clambering to her feet I followed suit. I looked up at them both as Nero called down to us.

"Kyrie" he started. She went to run to him but her brother blocked her path as well as my own. Did he think I was going to fight as well?

"_What the hell does he think I could do fighting against Dante? Hello! He's half-demon! The son of Sparda! I'm not suicidal, thanks!"_

God I really hate my brother for burning this knowledge into my brain.

"Go with your brother and friend and get outta here!" Nero shouted to us.

"I will return with help!" Credo called to him. I rolled my eyes. _"Yeah. Like all the soldiers here earlier did anything!"_

"You stall him until then" he added before grabbing Kyrie and me and rushing off to the exit. Other soldiers were following him as well.

Once through the door we ended up in another room where all the other people were ended up. All of them were shaking in fear from what they had just seen. Someone had grabbed the dead body of the priest as well. Kyrie sat down, her hands shook, and I sat next to her.

"It's gonna be alright, you'll see" I smiled trying to cheer her and everyone else up. Only she acknowledged me. The others stared at me as if I was a nuisance, I shook my head.

"_What is this high school? Being ridiculed as a nuisance and a freak because of the way I dress? Like somehow the way I dress makes everything I say a lie? Unbelievable?"_I mentally scoffed typical church people. One of the reasons I'm not a religious person. I prefer to go my way.

Kyrie was still shaking so I grabbed her hands tight and flashed her a smile. Using one hand I pointed to her brother and the other soldiers. After I did that I pressed a finger to my lips in a shushing way.

"Don't tell him. I'm gonna see how Nero is faring. He's gonna be fine that kick he did was pretty awesome and strong." I whispered. Her eyes widened as she shook her head.

"No you could get hurt" she whispered back. I shook my head at her.

"I don't like it when my friends are scared and worried. Besides your only hurt if you get caught" I simply said before dashing away from the room. The only thing that could get hurt would be my pride in sneaking around. I had _earned_that skill pranking the rude popular crowd at school, and then getting away.

I didn't hear Kyrie call after me so I'm guessing she took my request in accord.

I crept quietly down the smooth hallway, well as quietly as my shoes allowed. I blame the zippers.

The sounds of fighting reached my ears as I neared the door I ran through only moments ago. Pushing it open a little I stayed silent as I watched the battle unfold.

"I guess this doesn't quite cut it" I heard Nero say. He spun his pistol in his hand before putting it away. He kicked backwards sending a sword flying up into the air, catching it quickly and turning around, he glared at Dante.

Stabbing it into the ground he turned the handle and it gave off a sound like a motorcycle. The blade even lit up a bit.

"What's the point of packing a sword like that if you aren't even gonna use it!?" he shouted to him. Slowly but surely Dante turned around and stabbed the ground much like Nero did. Even went as far as to turn the handle mimicking him.

They clashed back and forth neither of them backing off. I had to admit this was pretty kick ass.

Attack, dodge, attack, and dodge. That was the cycle and it looked like it wasn't going to end.

I gasped as Dante hit Nero's sword out of the way, and with a lunge he went to stab him. Nero brought up his arm to block turning his head away and closing his eyes.

Dante's sword did no damage as it hit his arm, the only thing that happened was a gust of wind blew back the seats. I struggled to keep the door open as the wind blew through.

Once it passed I turned back to the fight, Nero's sling was off. The arm I saw glow blue appeared to be a demon arm. A blue light pulsed from it as Nero gasped for breath.

"Hmm, you've got a trick up your sleeve" Dante commented.

"I thought the cat had your tongue?" Nero asked. "But if it's a trick you're looking for, then try this!" Nero screamed throwing Dante off.

"Heh, looks like you too are a-" he started but trailed off. I looked to the left and my mouth dropped open. Nero was holding the sword that the statue Sparda was holding and chucked it at Dante.

"Hate to interrupt but I want to wrap this show up before the cavalry arrives" Nero declared dusting his hands off.

I almost screamed as I felt someone grab the back of my coat, the door successfully closed before me.

I glanced up and saw Credo glaring at me with such intensity it reminded me of my teachers.

"Busted" I squeaked as he dragged me off. More like lifted me off since he was holding me a couple inches off the ground by my jacket.

Once we were back in the room with the other's he set me down, and Kyrie looked at him. Her brother must have swindled her into telling him where I was.

"Tell me Ashe do you want to get hurt?" he asked arms crossed over his chest.

"Tell me Credo aren't you supposed to be bringing reinforcements?" I retorted back. His eyes widened a bit but soon turned back into a glare.

"Sit there and behave" he hissed dashing off. I rolled my eyes as we all began playing the waiting game.

Soon it was over as Credo came back with more men and they all charged to the door I was once at.

Kyrie followed closely as did I. As we walked into the room it was completely trashed. I whistled.

"You two certainly did a number on this place" I commented. Credo examined the room as I heard a scrapping noise. Turning around I saw Kyrie dragging a black trunk with much difficulty. I was about to walk over and help her when Nero took it from her.

"You brought this here for me?" he asked.

"Credo requested it, she yearned for your touch" Kyrie replied back. She's talking about the sword right?

"Thanks, this blade is the best companion a swordsman could wish for" he smiled swinging the trunk down and opening it. He then began rummaging through it and setting things up.

Kyrie then wandered off as I looked at all the damage done. Bits of stone were broken, broken glass was on the ground, seats busted up. The works.

"Fortuna castle, huh?" Nero questioned standing up. I cocked my head to the side in confusion. Castle?

He stabbed his sword in the ground.

"That's what the witnesses said" Credo replied.

"Guy just came from hell, he's gotta hit up a couple tourist sights" Nero smiled chuckling to himself and revving his sword. I snickered a little, good reply. Credo turned around and glared.

"You dare to jest so lightly in a time of crisis?" he hissed. I rolled my eyes.

"Gotta relieve the tension somehow" I said earning another glare from Credo.

Nero had his sword on his back and it looked like he was stifling a laugh at my comment. Credo walked past me his arms behind his back.

"You must capture him" he ordered anger in his eyes.

"Trust me, I'll get it done" Nero said waving his hand. The hand that was a demon arm, it was covered up by his coat sleeve.

"Please be careful, you still haven't recovered" Kyrie said with concern. I jumped, forgot she was here.

Nero turned to her and his eyes softened a little.

"There's no time and duty calls" he told her. I could see the affection in his eyes as he stared at her. I smiled, they're cute together.

It was then I noticed a gold necklace strung around her neck, must be the gift he got her. It was really pretty. I could tell she liked it, a light blush swept across Nero's face as he looked away a bit.

"_Oh I get it look like a total bad ass in the public eye but around the one you like appear soft and affectionate."_ I smirked, he was still playing it off like he doesn't care.

"Can't pass on an emergency" he told her quietly looking into her eyes.

"I must return to headquarters and report" Credo said walking past them. Ruining the moment they were sharing. Nice going.

Suddenly the room began shaking; dust fell from the ceiling as I looked around.

"_OH MY GOD EARTHQUAKE!"_ my mind screamed. We all ran off outside to see what was happening. The sunlight blinded me a bit as we descended down the many steps._"Everything looks fine to m-"_My thoughts were interrupted as I heard a scream.

"Someone help me!"

Credo's hand went to his sword as Nero put his arm in front of Kyrie. Kyrie grabbed my hand tight as we looked for the source of the noise.

The guy we heard scream came limping forward but didn't make it far as he fell. Blood spewed in the air as something stabbed him.

Kyrie gasped and hid her face in Nero's back. The body of the guy flew over the fountain and in front of us. That's when more screams erupted, my eyes widened in shock.

People from the city were scrambling to get away from something. Some were limping in pain others pushing others aside. It was total chaos, it was like 2012 was happening already!

I finally saw what was making the people scared as deformed looking creatures ran forward. A blade made up the entirety of one of their limbs and a putrid smell filled my nose. The smell of death, blood, and rot mixed into one.

Demons came pouring in laughing crazily as they rampaged. More blood filled the air in a crimson rain.

"Is this him?" Nero asked Credo.

"I-I'm not sure" Credo stuttered looking like a lost and confused puppy.

"Credo take care of Kyrie and her friend" Nero said after looking at her and I. He stalked off and charged in guns blazing into the fight with the demons.

My heart raced in my chest as I saw a solider near me had a bow and quiver with him. My eyes lit up as I quickly grabbed it.

"Hey!" he called.

"Sorry!" I shouted back. I really wasn't though. The bow was the weapon I was best with, and I wasn't sorry I was defending myself. All the while Credo shouted at me and Kyrie cried my name begging me to come back.

I have no idea what propelled me to fight as well, maybe I'm going insane. I threw the quiver on my back and grabbed an arrow. Quickly stringing it back and I took a deep breath and released it.

The arrow zoomed and hit its target, hitting the demon right in the face making it fall backwards.

"Score!" I shouted jumping in glee. Well my father's hunting skills did pay off in the long run. Ever since I was little he had taught me how to hunt and every deer season we'd go up north and hunt together. Along with hunting skills I competed in archery competitions. It was there that I found out I had a natural talent for it.

That's how it went for a good 15 minutes, Nero slashed away at the demons while I shot arrows.

More of the people escaped Kyrie and Credo included. When the battle was good and done Nero turned to me and sent me a glare.

"Why didn't you go with the others!?" he shouted at him.

"Would you believe me when I say I don't know?" I asked. I really didn't know, Nero scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"Great I'm stuck with the annoying girl" he muttered. A vein popped on my head.

"When did I annoy you? If anything I annoyed Credo!" I shouted to him. He rolled his eyes again causing me to grit my teeth in anger.

"Whatever I'm Nero lets go girl" he said turning away.

"Ashe" I said. He glanced back a confused look on his face.

"My name you moron. It's Ashe" I said like it was obvious. He raised an eyebrow at me.

"Who names their kid Ashe?" he questioned. Another vein popped on my head.

"Oh, yeah who names their kid Nero!?" I retorted. Nero glared at me as I glared back, I can already tell this will be a long journey with him.

"Anyway Nero your stuck with me" I smiled walking past him. I heard Nero groan.

"So annoying" he muttered.

"Your face is annoying" I called back, earning a growl from him.

On the Brightside I get somebody to annoy.

XxxXxx

**Alex: A long chapter just for you guys so please review.**

**Wolf: Ha! I did it! Yeah! I'll say it again, I'm not a professional, so if I missed something I'm sorry, don't go all "Grammar Nazi" on me.**


	4. The city of Fortuna

**Alex: Chapter four is here at last my readers. Now generally how I'm gonna continue with this story is I will end the chapter at each mission. If the mission is short I will add on to the chapter and put the next mission.**

**But generally I'll end it after every mission. Now I know some of you are going "Wait! Later on you switch to Dante!" Don't worry I have that part covered what I put you'll just have to wait and see. Now on with the chapter.**

**Chapter 4: The city of Fortuna**

**Ashe's POV**

The three pathways were closed off, two with closed gates and the other by the archway that collapsed. The only way we could go was through this nearby door which led into a storeroom, no demons were in there. Thankfully.

Nero and I were walking side by side, when I noticed his arm again. The demon one. I'm guessing he realized I was looking at it since he quickly hid it and sped up.

"Why do you hide it?" I asked. He stopped in front of me, and he didn't say anything. It took a minute, but it clicked. What the Order was about…Kyrie had told me.

The Order of the Sword killed demons to live up to Sparda's name…to do what he did long ago.

Nero is half demon, and if the Order found out… that would spell bad news for him.

"Stupid question for me to ask. But don't worry I won't tell anyone about your arm" I reassured him smiling. He glanced at me with a raised eyebrow, a look of uncertainty and confusion going across his face.

I rolled my eyes.

"I'm not really from here and nor was I ever a religious person. I don't care about all this Sparda crap. None of it matters." I told him walking up the stairs. I could hear Nero's footsteps as he followed me up.

"You were at the opera house…why?" he asked coming back next to me. _"Time to lie. Because 'I somehow magically ended up here' and 'by the way this is all a game' would go over great."_

"Kyrie asked me to come" I simply replied. Earning a nod we continued on, some parts of the staircase we were going up was broken off, making us jump over them. The gap wasn't that big so I could easily jump over. Once off the staircase we were in the top area of the storeroom. So walking into the room the feeling of uneasiness set in once again.

There was a bag on the floor a bit ahead of us, and one to the side as we walked by it, our footsteps making noise on the stone floor we walked on.

Nero stopped suddenly and he looked at the bag that was on the floor. A creaking noise caught my attention. I gasped, looked back, and saw a demon rising up off the floor.

The bag wasn't just a bag.

It was a demon.

Black particles scurried out from a vent on the ground to the demon that was lying down in front of us.

A growl ignited from it as its body puffed out, the demon rising into the air. Once up and ready it began to laugh that crazy laugh of theirs. I mentally groaned, their laughs will haunt me in my dreams now.

Unsheathing my bow I grabbed an arrow as Nero grabbed his sword. Which I found out he named Red Queen.

Stringing it back I aimed for the one in front of me and dodged to the side as the one from behind went to slash me. My dodging was slow and sloppy, but I managed to get by.

Grabbing another arrow I let it fly hitting the same demon that I previously shot. It let out a cry and fell dead absorbing into the ground. _"I don't even know where I'm hitting these things and they're down with two or three shots! Maybe it's the arrows themselves? I did steal them off a soldier from the Order…maybe they have magical properties? I figure it out later"_

Nero shot the demon that was coming up behind me and pulled me out of my thoughts "Focus! I don't want to end up saving your life all the time" he snapped at me. I growled at him.

"I feel the care you have for me all the way over here. It gives me warm fuzzy feelings." I retorted sticking another demon in the face with an arrow I had in my hand. After I did that it fell down dead, absorbing into the ground like the others. _"That's…weird. I thought I heard glass shattering…but…there's no glass here…I must be hearing things."_

I shook my head and jogged after Nero, who was headed out the door and leaving me. We ended up on a balcony where the laughter of demons echoed around us with the roar of fire in the background. I walked over to the edge and leaned over it to see what was happening.

No civilians were in the area, which was good, but those demons were everywhere. Some were standing on a bus that had caught fire due to crashing into a smaller car that was also on fire. They were jumping up and down in glee, but I was sure that would change when the two vehicles exploded.

The other demons were jumping up and down in place as they laughed aloud. They were probably waiting for some poor soul to wander on by.

"Annoying girl! Over here!" Nero called to me.

"_Really? Come on Nero! I gave you my name!"_I walked over to a set of doors he was standing by and he walked inside, letting the door slam in my face.

How rude!

I opened it and stomped towards him anger clearly on my face.

"Hey the least you could have done was kept the door open for me!" I shouted at him. He rolled his eyes at me but a smirk was plastered to his face.

"For someone as annoying as you? As if." he said back. My eyes twitched as I clenched my fists tight.

"I'm gonna make you regret ever calling me annoying" I smirked back. He thinks I'm annoying? Oh I'll show him annoying.

"Whatever" he replied and continued walking down the steps. From the looks of the area he said we were in a cathedral.

"_Doesn't look like one to me"_I thought examining the place as Nero headed towards something that was floating nearby.

Floating! And he just walks over to it like it was normal. This place gets weirder and weirder.

The floating object was on a moving pedestal, and there was a blue flame up on top.

The thing that was floating was the lower portion of a skull that had a blue orb inside of it and it was glowing.

"What the hell?" Nero muttered confused. Grabbing it with his devil arm he began examining it.

The blue fire that was up top it immediately disappeared as the pedestal stopped turning. I stared at it. "Nero…Put it back." I hissed. In every movie I had ever watched, when you picked something up and stuff stopped doing whatever it had done before you picked it up bad stuff happened.

The blue light faded away only to be replaced as the skull started glowing blindingly. Nero cried out in pain and looked at his arm in shock. His arm glowed as it suddenly launched itself backwards, a gust of power shooting out of it. My eyes widened in shock as he pulled his arm back, and it was back to normal.

His demon arm had absorbed the skull.

"So your demon arm likes to eat things" I said. _"That's…slightly worrying"_I thought. Nero shot me a looked which I shot back right at him.

A small circle lit up as Nero stepped on it; he glanced up as something blue was shining in the air. _"Does he think he can reach that thing?"_

"So how we gonna get up there?" I asked him. Nero chuckled to himself as he grabbed my arm.

"Hey what are you doing?" I asked as he lifted up his devil arm. His arm extended as he grabbed whatever was shining blue. Swinging himself up with me behind him we landed up on the upper floor.

"What the hell was that?" I asked stunned. Nero examined his arm slowly, he shook his head, but a smile was on his face.

"New ability I guess" he said as we came to another one of those blue things. Grabbing my arm once more we swung over to the next area.

"_That's never gonna get old"_I thought as we walked outside once again on the balcony area. We had to fly over yet again, this time over the area where the demons were.

"_So help me god if he drops me I'm gonna haunt him till he dies…and then haunt Daemon."_

Heading on we had to fly over to the next area as well, but, something weird happened.

A red cobweb type barrier popped up blocking us off. _"What are these?"_I thought as two demons came up.

"Oh, jeez" I muttered grabbing my bow once more. Since only two came up Nero got rid of them before I could release an arrow.

"What are these things called?" I asked him.

"Scarecrows" he replied back. Well would ya look at that. The Wizard of Oz gone to hell, I'll never watch that movie the same way again.

The barrier blocking us had long shattered, and I realized then that the glass shattering noise I heard a while back was the barrier breaking. _"I have a bad feeling about those…like they'll haunt me all over the place. Damn it. I hate complications. Like something trapping me in the room with my possible death."_

We swung to the next area, going across a huge mass of demons and a good 15 feet drop. A huge fight ensured our arrival as more scarecrows rose up from the ground.

"These things are relentless!" I shouted firing an arrow upon impact.

"Less talking more fighting annoying girl!" Nero shouted to me. I glared at him as I dodged a scarecrow, but in doing so I lost my balance and landed in this pool of water.

Seriously, who puts a thing of water on a balcony? It wasn't even deep enough to swim in! Just deep enough to get my butt wet.

The scarecrow lunged for me I quickly brought up my foot to block it. It worked to say the least, but now I was flat on my back trying not to get killed. I reached behind me and grabbed an arrow, which I stuck into the Scarecrow's eye. It howled in pain and backed off. Quickly getting to my feet, I kicked it down giving Nero enough time to shoot it.

Another barrier broke as Nero looked over at me.

"Not bad at fighting" he commented. Wow, he's actually complimenting me.

"You're not bad yourself" I said back. He's more like kick ass though, Nero nodded as we walked into the next area.

And some area this was!

The only thing there was a small little balcony to stand on and that was it. I glanced over the edge, and my eyes widened a bit. It was a long way down.

"Question. How am I supposed to get down?" I asked Nero. He could jump down and not break any bones being a half demon. Me, however? Yeah, no that wasn't happening. All I heard was a sigh before I was lifted up by Nero.

One hand was under my knees the other at the middle of my back.

"What are you doing?" I cried wrapping my arms around his neck afraid I was gonna fall. He rolled his eyes at me causing me to glare at him.

"Only one way down" he smirked before jumping. Causing me to close my eyes, hearing a thud I realized he landed on the ground easily.

"You can let go now" he said causing me to open my eyes. I nodded quickly and let his neck go as we walked through the small alley we were in.

Some demons were in the area, they were….wait for it…scarecrows. Not a shocker, the whole town seemed to be overrun with them.

As we traveled forward I could hear the distant sound of waves indicating we were near the ocean. I smiled. The sound of the water splashing against the rocks was always soothing to me.

Memories flooded into my mind of happier times with my family and I at the beach. Of us laughing, swimming, and eating ice cream on the pier. My smile was soon replaced by a frown, knowing those happier times would never come back. Happy times ended after the accident happened.

Going through a set of doors we arrived in an area called Port Caerula. Ships were docked everywhere as they bobbed about the water's surface.

A beautiful sunset was ahead of us causing beautiful splashes of yellow, orange, and a faint bit of pink to envelope the surrounding area.

We walked along the docks and saw a drawbridge up. We would have to fix that before we could move on, instead we headed into the only indoor area we noticed.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, we weren't alone. I could tell by how the air changed in the room.

I heard a thud which caused me to jump.

"Did you hear that?" I whispered to Nero. He shushed me as he looked around the room, nothing was there.

Not seeing anything he walked further in I followed closely behind him. No way was I getting caught alone by whatever was here. Nero gasped and looked up just as some scarecrows jumped down, only these were different than the others.

Nero pushed me aside and dodge rolled as the three demons landed before us.

They looked like the scarecrows from before with some differences. They wore weird masks and instead of their arm being a blade one of their legs was. _"These must be the demented older brothers to the Arm Scarecrows or something…"_These were harder to kill than the Arm Scarecrows but Nero and I managed easily enough…after Nero stabbed a blue circle what seemed like a million times, but was only a couple.

The blue cobweb barrier shattered and we could go up and drop the drawbridge to grant us access to the next area.

Nero went first and pressed a couple buttons looking up at the bridge nothing happened. Getting mad he pounded on it…again nothing.

"Dammit" he cursed.

"Calm down, jeez" I said rolling my eyes. He looked over at me and glared.

"You think you can make it work? By all means try" he sneered bowing to the side. I glared at him and shoved him aside. I leaned down and pressed a couple buttons trying to make the red light go from that to green.

Nothing.

"Heh, that's what I thought" Nero laughed. Earning a slap to the back of the head from me.

He growled at me which I ignored as we walked away. Well not before Nero decided to shoot the machine.

"Shooting it won't make it work" I said. He ignored me and chuckled to himself at the broken machine.

I shook my head as we headed off again, a small explosion sounded as the machine exploded. Black smoke filled the air as well as another noise, the sound of the draw bridge going down.

My jaw hit the floor at that as Nero gave me a knowing look.

"You were saying?" he asked.

"Shut it" I hissed walking off back the way we came.

15 minutes later we arrived in the last area, Nero told me, to Fortuna castle. All that was left was to take a short hike across a mountain and we were there.

It was now night time as we made our way to a small broken down village. All the houses were made of wood. Signs gently flew back and forth in the light wind; the horizon was mixed with red as we walked.

"Let me guess more demons?" Nero asked staring ahead at something. A huge slab of stone was ahead of us. A weird insignia on it as I stared I blinked in confusion.

"What is that?" I asked Nero. Who didn't reply, jerk.

I got my answer soon enough as a rumbling noise caught my attention, the slab of stone slowly turned fire red as something jumped out from it.

A demon, a big demon too…bigger than the scarecrows. A big centaur-like demon only instead of part horse he was part dragon…and on fire.

As it landed before us, it roared and all the houses caught on fire. The heat was already reaching me where I was standing. Sweat began streaking down my face. Nero fanned himself as the demon began talking to himself about the human world, and the fact that he hadn't been here in a while._"Well you made it just in time for us, didn't you ya big idiot? Of course you did."_

Fire erupted from its whole as it walked towards us. I'm causing those flames hold his power, as he walked Nero just walked by it.

"_Is he serious? Yeah that's smart, just walk right on by! Leave it to roam!"_

Once past him he grabbed Red Queen, spinning in a full circle he blew the flames away.

Causing the demon to turn to us and yell enraged.

"Fire's bad for the complexion. I burn easily, never tan" Nero said with a smirk. He's trying to get us killed isn't he?

The demon yelled how it was 2,000 years since he returned and no one like us was around then. Really how thick was this demon?

Nero retorted by asking if he wanted to make it another 2,000.

"Don't taunt it!" I shout at him. "One of these days, your damn mouth is gonna get you killed and then you'll leave me to die next!"

"Better get ready annoying girl" he smirked at me.

"Nero I'm gonna kill you!" I shouted grabbing my bow. _"Note to self…if I survive this… Nero gets a round house kick to the groin."_

**XxxXxx**

**Alex: Please review**

**Wolf: I'm still here! Woo! Excellent Alex. Alex was short on time, but still managed to get this out, enjoy it dear readers. Enjoy it.**


	5. Flames of hell and a castle

**Alex: Now for the boss fight against Berial then afterwards Ashe and Nero head to Fortuna Castle *shudders* I'm currently there on mission 4 as of far I hate it, it's night time and creepy music plays as I walk through the hallways of the castle. The demons don't help either. But onwards with the stuff heading your way.**

**Wolf: Woo Boy, the weather down here? It's _hell_I lost power ALL day. Got it back not even 20mins ago.**

**XxxXxx**

**Chapter 5: Flames of Hell and a Castle**

_Firefighting - one of the few professions left that still makes house calls._

**Ashe's POV**

"_I lied. I'm kicking Nero in the balls twice for this!"_my mind screamed as I played limbo under the demon Berial's tail.

Apparently he's the Supreme Ruler of the Fire Hell, which I didn't know existed until this moment. I knew it was divided into layers supposedly but still. I don't pay attention to the details my friend Jackson tried to tell me. _"Yeah, well _that_is a lesson learned!"_

The heat of the flames was intense and on several occasions I had to cringe away because it was so hot. I jumped back a few steps as I strung back a arrow and released it, I was aiming for its eyes.

If I could make Berial blind that might be good for us that way he wouldn't be able to hit us with his sword. Or hit us with his tail, though his hearing will go up greatly.

Sadly.

I growled in frustration. My arrows were having no effect what so ever. They kept being burned by the fire that was on him.

"Annoying girl don't just stand around!" Nero shouted as he jumped off of Berial. A vein popped on my head. Seriously I'm trying here!

"My arrows are having no effect due to the fire on his stupid body!" I screamed at him. Though I think Berial didn't like being called stupid for her turned to me.

"Ah, hell" I muttered as he advanced towards me.

"Then keep him preoccupied!" Nero called. I gave him the finger as I began running off as fast as I could. Muttering the whole time "I hate you Nero, I hate you so much."

"Foolish human you can't escape me!" Berial shouted as he swung his sword down at me. I immediately dropped to the ground, face meeting ground as I dodged. I felt the heat of the flames on the sword and the rush of the hot air as the sword passed over my head.

Other than that I was fine, I breathed a sigh of relief as I jumped to my feet again.

"Oh you missed almighty conquer of the fire hell!" I laughed with glee. Earning a growl from him.

I saw Nero come up from behind him and jump into the air and aimed a shot at his head.

One minute there was flames on his body the next there wasn't. How the hell did that happen?

"The flames are gone so help me!" Nero shouted as he began hacking away with Red Queen. My eyes twitched. _"I must not shoot Nero. I must not shoot Nero."_I told myself as I strung back an arrow.

Letting it fly I quickly kept shooting as many as I could get in before the flames appeared. Berial was dazed and confused as he sat there not knowing what to do. Obviously he was taking big damage though.

The flames were the source of his power.

Nero ran over and used his devil arm and snatched Berial, I was shocked. I could actually see what his devil arm did for once. It extended to grab things from far away. Usually he just grabbed me and we flying through the air by the time I realized what happened. This made sense though.

Interesting to say the least.

He swung himself to his head and lifted him up in the air, my eyes widened. Holy shit! Berial had to weigh at the very least a couple of tons and he just_picked him up!_

"Is that all you got!" Nero shouted slamming him into the ground. Once down Nero landed in front of him and launched him one more time straight into the rocky cliff.

Nero jumped back to where I was standing and smirked in satisfaction.

"Two words holy shit" I told him. I could see his ego grow as he smirked wider. I rolled my eyes _"That's great. His pride is going to get him in serious trouble and be extension drag me with him."_I thought.

Berial slowly stood up but his eyes were full of raging anger, he formed a ball of fire on his hand.I thought he was going to regenerate his flames, yeah I was wrong.

"Die!" he shouted slamming the ball of fire into the ground.

Wait….what?

"Move!" Nero shouted grabbing my hand. I yelped from the sudden action but knew why he was doing it. Huge bursts of flames were coming up from the ground and towards us.

Nero clenched my hand tight as he tugged me along. I kept up with him surprisingly.

"_Thank you Mr. Walker!"_I mentally praised. Mr. Walker was the gym teacher at my school and boy did we all hate him. _"I take back everything I said about you! Thank you, Thank you thank you! I'll never complain about 20 timed laps around the track again!"_

From the corner of my eye I saw flames erupting on Berial, crap his flames regenerated.

Again I was wrong he was going to rush into his and slam us. Nero noticed it too because he twirled around pushing me behind him. He used his devil arm to buster Berial into the air as he made contact with us.

Launching him into the air once more he punched him into the rocky cliff wall. Causing extra damage.

Nero smirked once more and bowed before Berial.

"Shall we dance?" he asked taunting him. Berial stood up and swung his sword back.

"Feel my rage!" he shouted. I was sure this time, his flames regenerated once again._"Something is wrong….the flames are a purple-blue color…why would they…wait.__**Wait.**__No!"_

"That's not fair! It devil triggered!" I shouted earning a look from Nero as he charged forward to stop Berial. _"Since when could Bosses Devil Trigger?! I thought only Dante could do that! And Nero I think, but not Bosses! I _played_the first DMC game! This never happened to anyone other then Dante!"_

I brushed some sweat of my brow. This wasn't just a game anymore. I could except that this is my reality now. I suppose it shouldn't be surprising that enemies do devil trigger if you piss them off. Why wouldn't other demons Devil Trigger? If someone who was half and half could Devil Trigger why wouldn't all the others be capable of it?

Berial was much faster now as he jumped and twirled in a circle trying to knock Nero down.

Since I was on the ground and Nero was living it up in the air using his handy dandy snatch ability. Berial began taking a liking to swinging his giant sword at me.

I've lost count how many times my face met the earth. _"Hello Earth. I love you too."_I thought as I dodged his attack once again. I can't keep dodging though I thought as I pulled back an arrow and set it flying.

It wasn't much but at least this one didn't burn. It landed on his stomach, and he got preoccupied with going to pull the arrow out. That was when Nero landed the finishing blow with Red Queen.

"_Oh, I could have shot arrows at him where there was no fire…oops. Lesson Learned, but at least he's defeated now…"_I thought.

Berial slid and staggered back crying out in pain and fatigue.

"Your arm….You are not human! But that girl is" he gasped out. Really! What was your first clue?

Nero walked over a bit and kept his eyes locked on his devil arm.

"Don't ask. Damn thing drives me crazy though" Nero stated clenching his hand into a fist. "Yes annoying girl is human. You shocked you got part of your ass whooped by a girl?" Nero asked Berial.

Said demon ignored his question and kept looking at Nero.

"You are just like he was" he stated. He? Oh he must mean Sparda.

"And 'he' would be….?" Nero asked.

"I must restore my powers" Berial said. With a loud roar he turned fully into a huge blaze of flames. Hot air swept back causing my long hair to go flying behind me as if I was on a roller coaster.

Flying into the air he headed for that huge slab of stone, though he flew by us to get there. Nero and I both cringed from the flames as we turned to the cliff where we saw him come from.

The rip in the stone was still there and Berial was headed right for it.

"Hey!" Nero shouted reaching his hand out. But Berial disappeared into the stone, the rip dissolving away as soon as Berial passed into it.

I wiped my forehead as I turned around I winced a bit. Poor village it went bye-by during the fight. Nero sighed and placed his hands on his hips as he saw the charred up burnt village. The houses were gone and nothing was left but charred ground.

The sound of breaking glass caught my attention, well a barrier was broken.

"Let's go girl" he said walking past me. He didn't add annoying on it, I shrugged don't really care.

I followed closely, as we walked I grabbed my hair and flung it back a bit. The back of my neck had sweat on it. I brushed my hand on the back of my neck and tried to get rid of it, the heat was starting to cool down in the area.

"_Well that's good. I think if I see flames spark up I'll be convinced Berial is coming back. Even when I get home flames will creep me out. I can see it now in Science class when we have to light up the Bunsen Burners…"_I shook the thoughts away as we hiked up to the cliff overlooking the burned remains of the village.

There were some ruins over by where the huge slab of stone was. But we didn't head for there.

**Nero's POV**

"_This Ashe girl can put up a fight I give her that. Especially for a human."_ I thought. I had nothing against humans, it was just that most of the time they were useless when it came to Demon fights. I glanced over at her. She was messing around with her hair.

**Ashe's POV**

We took a right turn and headed into a tunnel which led into a mining area. A little further in I heard the sounds of insane laughter.

"_Oh, boy the scarecrows are out to play again. I wonder if their leg or arm Scarecrows?"_I thought grabbing my bow and an arrow.

Nero revved Red Queen up as we both charged towards them. Going straight for a couple seconds I turned to the right and yelped. As a scarecrow aimed the blade at my head playing limbo I dodged as Nero struck it down. I let an arrow fly at the other scarecrow, the one with a blade as a leg.

Jumping to the side I let Nero shoot the last one with his pistol which was called Blue Rose.

In a weird way I think we make a good team…sorta. I mean we could be a better team if I stopped annoying him…but I'll only stop annoying him when hell freezes over and I don't think that will happen anytime soon. Besides, it was fun!

The sounds of a waterfall caught our attention as we headed further in the mines. Looks like we'd have to climb up again well more like Nero use his snatch ability.

Said white haired guy grabbed my arm and prepared to launch us up.

"Wait one moment!" I cried causing him to glare at me.

"What?" he hissed. I rolled my eyes at him.

"If you keep grabbing my arm when you snatch those things it's gonna get pulled out of socket" I told him putting my hands on my hips. Nero crossed his arms over his chest as he growled lowly at me.

"If you're trying to make me scared, it's not working" I smiled singing lightly at the end. His blue eyes narrowed at me as he looked away.

"Fine I'll comply with your request" he stated as his arm wrapped around my waist pulling me close.

My face heated up in a light blush as he grabbed the blue floating object. There were a lot of those blue things till we were up to the next area of the mines.

Where some more scarecrows ambushed us again, not a lot showed up, so we managed to dispose of them quickly. This was the last area of the mines as we began heading back outside and by god it was freezing!

We walked right out into a flurry of snow, the snow swirled up around us. The icy cold stung at my face as the wind howled in my ears.

Nero seemed perfectly fine as he easily walked through the cold frigid air. Me on the other hand at pulled my hands into my sleeves and wrapped my arms across my chest.

A futile attempt to keep warm.

"Aren't you cold?" I asked Nero as I walked alongside him. He just shrugged at me.

"Cold doesn't bother me that much. Training through the years helped a lot with that" he replied back. I nodded. Figures.

I'd throw a snow ball at him but I'm too cold too.

As we walked on the little blizzard we stumbled into ceased it's fury and stilled. I let my arms fall to my sides as I brushed my hair from my face.

Well that was unpleasant and I should be used to the cold considering I live in Michigan. It gets really cold there in the winter.

You'd think I'd be used to it but I'm not.

A castle stood out in the distance and a bright full moon lit a path for us to follow as we headed right for it. I'm guessing that's Fortuna castle.

Giant ominous dark castle + night = not good.

We walked on till we saw a bridge…or what was left of it. How the hell are we supposed to get across!?

Snowflakes danced around us as we edged closer onto the bridge a sudden tremor caused us to lose our balance a bit.

"The hell?" I mumbled to myself as I looked ahead only to gasp as I heard a breaking sound. Looking back the small bell tower that was nearby broke off and was heading towards us.

Nero grabbed my hand as we fell down to the earth below. Luckily we landed easily on the soft snow below. But the rubbish from the small bridge and the bell tower smashed behind us, kicking up a huge cloud of dust and snow, I coughed a little as I swatted at the air in front of me.

Once everything cleared Nero began dusting himself off and I began clearing the snow from my hair.

I froze immediately as I felt eyes staring at me, slowly lifting up my head I saw them. A new set of demons only two though.

Parts of their bodies were covered in ice if anything they looked like an overgrown lizard. They hissed lowly at us.

"Frosts" Nero stated. Indicating that was their names, they were standing above us on pedestals of sorts.

They stretched out their limbs and with a roar they zoomed towards us in a flash of snow and ice.

I didn't have any time to grab my bow let alone dodge as one of the Frosts knocked me backwards. I hissed in pain as my back met a piece of rubble that was sticking out from underneath the snow.

The Frost headed towards me I quickly lifted up my leg to kick it back. The force wasn't really that good but it made it back off.

And it gave me enough time to shoot an arrow at it. Nero had the other Frost by the leg and he was swinging it rapidly. He quickly launched it towards the Frost I was fighting knocking them back killing them when they landed.

"Front entrance to the castle is over here" Nero stated walking off. My eyes twitched in annoyance just deals out directions and orders.

We walked out of the area we fell down in and across another snow covered bridge towards the huge double doors to Fortuna castle.

About halfway through, we heard a crazy laugh. Looking up quickly Nero grabbed Blue Rose while I grabbed my bow and pointed it upwards.

A scarecrow was flying through the air to the earth below but someone else was with it. It was girl her legs were wrapped around it her arms flung to the side like she was flying.

"Huh?" Nero stated confused. I cocked my head to the side also confused.

"What the?" I mumbled to myself.

The girl flipped forward in the air causing her and the demon to come spiraling towards the earth. At a much faster pace she landed on the bridge with a slam, she held the scarecrows legs and pushed them back.

"Ah" she whispered as more scarecrows surrounded her. Ok, I'm confused now.

The scarecrows began attacking but the girl quickly dodged back flipping away. Her outfit was really revealing and I mean revealing. Her hair was short and a blondish silver color her eyes a very icy bright blue.

I was stunned into silence as she began taking out all the scarecrows in a series of kicks, flips, jabs and rotates.

After a good couple minutes they all lay dead around her but one seemed to not want to die as it prepared to attack her from behind.

With quick agility Nero and I fired at the same time. My arrow connecting with its stomach Nero's bullet's heading into its head. Its greenish putrid blood splattered everywhere.

The mystery woman turned around to face us.

"I owe you thanks'" she said putting a hand on her hip. I nodded a little as I put my bow away.

She walked closer to us the heels of her thigh length boots clicked as she did.

"You're from the order?" Nero asked scratching his nose. "I've never seen you before" he stated with suspicious eyes.

"I'm new" she smiled extending her hands to her. "Gloria" she said telling us her name adding in a wink to Nero who in turn turned away from her.

"You're Nero and Ashe, right?" she asked.

"_Now how does she know who we are?"_

"I've heard rumors" she said. Rumors of what? I'm so confused!

Nero chuckled a bit and crossed his arms over his chest his gun still in his hand.

"Hasn't everyone?" he asked.

"Quite a few in fact, and none too flattering" she told us. So the order knows about me also? What did I do to not get good comments from them?

Wait that was a stupid question, I stole a soldier's weapon, kept talking when his Holiness was.

Nero turned away from her.

"So what's the deal? Where're they coming from?" he asked her. All the while Gloria twirled her knife like weapon in her hand.

"It's strange…..no matter the number you kill, more will come" she informed as kneeling down to the ground. Where she slipped her weapon in her boot, Nero looked down at what she was doing.

A light blush dusted his face as he quickly looked away, wow he's the first guy I've ever seen not continue looking at something like that, kudos to him. He gets more respect points from me.

Gloria stood back up as she stared at us a small smile on her face.

"Then I'll leave that chore to you. We've got some personal slaying to take care of" he told her. She nodded.

"I'll join with the others, we'll take care of them" she said as we began walking away. I waved by to her and gave her a slight smile as I followed Nero closely.

"May the Savior be with you on your journey" she stated walking away. Savior? Who let alone what was that?

Nero scoffed and kept his eyes ahead as he pushed open the castle doors.

"Savior" he muttered.

"Nero who's the Savior?" I asked jogging up to him as he entered the castle. He shook his head.

"Just some god everyone worships. It's all stupid you're the only other person I know who doesn't care for it" he told me.

I nodded in understanding.

"Like I said before I'm not into this Sparda nonsense, bringing in a so called God makes it less interesting." I told him. Nero nodded to me as we walked further in Fortuna castle I'm gonna guess and say this was the grand hall.

I shivered a little it was cold in here but not as bad as it was outside. The area was lit with some torches but other than that it was pretty dark.

A lot of chairs greeted us as we walked in along with a blue rusty coffin. That's weird I thought as I looked around.

Up on the top floor there was a huge picture of his Holiness Sanctus. I got his name from Credo a while back. There was also a blue barrier surrounding the area.

Something tells me will need to break that barrier somehow.

"Annoying girl" Nero called. I jumped a bit and looked over. Nero was waiting by a nearby door with a scowl on his face.

I jogged over to him as we headed into the next which was a long ass hallway.

"Don't zone out" he told me. My eye twitched.

"So what I was looking around. I've never been here exactly" I told him firmly. He just rolled his eyes which made me walk ahead of him in the hallway.

One part of the hallway we saw had a puzzle of sorts to figure out with weird things in front of it. When I went to inspect them they literally talked to me, a voiced sound in my head saying:

We are the Gyro Blades. If our power is what you desire, Anima Mercury is what we require.

Hey that rhymed I thought happily as I walked on all the way Nero behind me. Our footsteps echoing as we walked but soon his footsteps faded away. I stopped suddenly and looked behind me.

Nero was gone, my heart began racing in my chest _"I swear if he left me I'm gonna kick his ass when I find him…"_

"Nero" I called. My voice echoed a bit in the hallway. I didn't get an answer, at that I began backtracking.

"This isn't funny" I called for Nero to hear if he was still here. I crept slowly as I looked around.

Two hands suddenly clamped on my shoulders causing me to let out a scream and turn around and hit whatever grabbed me.

"God dammit!" I heard Nero curse. I blinked a couple times confused but my confusion turned to anger.

"Why the hell did you scare me you jerk!?" I asked glaring daggers at him. Said white haired boy was rubbing his face and glaring at me.

"Reasons that are my own. Jesus was it necessary to hit me?" he questioned wincing in pain. I huffed a bit and crossed my arms over my chest.

"I have a tendency to hit people who scare me. Hasn't really lessened due to my little brother" I informed him still glaring. He glared right but it was gone when the demons came.

Scarecrows galore charged towards us it was time to battle once more. During the scuffle Nero got dragged by a couple which in turn made me shout out.

"They're taking Nero to Isengard!"

Ha, ya gotta love Lord of the rings references, that only made Nero confused at what Isengard was.

Afterwards we continued on to exploring the castle fighting demons as we went. The Frosts only came when we had to hike back outside to get to the next area.

Our goal was to try and break the barrier in the grand hall, though we did come across a torture chamber and those blue floating objects.

So Nero had to hold on to me as we crossed the room. I couldn't help but blush as he pulled me close to him. I wasn't used to the contact.

After a long while we made it to the library and the feeling of danger filled me as Nero headed over to a table with books on it.

Some we opened while others were closed Nero had his gun out the whole time in case demons came.

"Didn't figure this guy for a bookwork" he said mainly to himself. As he began pushing back pages of the open book with Blue Rose.

Nero suddenly turned and pointed Blue Rose at something. I jumped a bit from the sudden action and turned to where Nero looked.

A guy in a suit of armor was standing behind us the insignia of the order was on it. Signaling it was ok, but for some reason that guy in the armor made me feel uneasy.

"That's one way to get yourself shot" Nero told him. The guy did not respond back as he just stared at us.

He glanced down at Nero's arm causing him to hide it. I frowned I know the order hates demons and all but would they really kill Nero?

He's working for them for crying out loud, I for one don't like it when he hides his arm.

"So you after this guy to, or just here to catch some demons?" he asked turning back to the books.

Again no answer, what's with this guy?

The armored clad guy started walking toward us, his feet making loud thumps on the ground. I kept my eyes focused on the books before me too freaked out to look back, this guy is giving me the creeps.

Nero glanced back at him.

"Silent type, huh? Well that's….annoying" he said turning a page.

As quick as lightning Nero turned around with the book he had in his hand and caught the lance the guy was going to stab him with.

"So much for friendly banter!" Nero exclaimed. The guy didn't seem to like that as he pushed Nero off and swung at him again. He quickly dodged as some things got destroyed by the armor guy.

Nero grabbed my hand and pulled me with him as the guy destroyed the table. Pages of the books rained down on us as Nero grabbed Red Queen while I grabbed my bow.

"If you want a fight, then come on!" Nero declared revving his sword. Here we go again I thought.

The fight began as he lunged towards Nero who quickly dodged. I pulled an arrow back and let it fly it got lodged in his neck. Making the guy stunned a bit as he turned towards me, my face drained of color.

"Ah, shit" I muttered as he zoomed towards me. Air incased around his lance I jumped to the side and rammed into a bookcase. The guy continued to follow me as I scrambled to my feet.

Nero was on the sides revving Red Queen up concentration on his face.

"Nero I'd be a good time to help your ally!" I shouted to him.

"A few more minutes!" he called me. I groaned a bit as I turned around and began running backwards.

"Bet ya can't catch me!" I sang taunting him. Only making him more enraged as he flew up into the air. Wait he can fly too!? That is so not fair.

"Nero!" I screamed as I began running around the small library area dodging swipes at my head.

I turned around and aimed an arrow just as I released it the guy knocked me down. I landed with a thud on the ground. I groaned in slight pain. _"Ow. Owowowow! That hurt!"_I thought.

Nero let out a battle cry as he surged over Red Queen emitting flames as he smashed into the armored man before me.

That attack seemed to do the trick as his shield broke, he stood there before falling down to the ground letting go of his lance in the process.

His helmet rolling off to reveal nothing in the armor what so ever. My eyes widened, what the hell!?

Nero leaned down and picked up the helmet.

"Empty" he stated as a bright light flew around the armor. Tendrils of light zooming up into the air as it vanished.

The same soon happened with the helmet.

"A demon; it possessed the order's armor" continued standing up and brushed his hands off. "That's not a good sign" he finished.

"I'll say that thing was fast. Speaking of which what were you doing with your sword?" I asked him. He turned to me and smirked revving Red Queen a bit.

"Revving up to perform a streak attack" he stated. I nodded, that was a pretty cool attack that dealt some god damage. Better than what I can do anyway. _"I need to do some serious upgrading to these arrows or something._"

A wall opened up revealing another pedestal type object like back in the cathedral. Instead of a blue light emitting from it, it was gold light.

We both headed towards it and Nero snatched it up, there was in the small case a blue flame coming from within it.

Words were inscribed on it saying Anima Mercury, so this was used to control the Gyro blades. Wonder what else will find exploring this castle.

**XxxXxx**

**Alex: A long chapter just for you guys so please review**

**Wolf: Whoo, holy crap! The Storm From Hell (yes it deserves the capitals) is right outside my home. Anyway, power is back on so I got to read through this finally! So here you are everyone! Enjoy!**


	6. A time of rest

**Alex: This roughly won't be a long chapter, mainly a chapter where Nero and Ashe get a tad closer so enjoy ^^ also I saw Kenny Chesney and Tim Magraw in concert!**

**Wolf: Whoo, Ok here we go. BONDING! YEAH! Enjoy~**

**Bold:** is Nero's Devil Side talking!

**XxxXxx**

_When you wish upon a shooting star, all your dreams will come true…unless the star is really a meteor about to destroy the earth. Then, you're pretty much dead no matter what you wish for. Unless it's death by meteor._

**Chapter 6: A Time of Rest**

**Ashe's POV**

Such an interesting fight with that guy in the army whose name I now know. Bianco Angelos, something tells me we haven't seen the last of him.

"_I feel very…weak right now. Nero has a devil arm and is also half-demon, the armor guy can fly, Dante is…well he's just Dante. Nothing more to say about him, all I'm good at it shooting arrows and drawing the enemy away. I feel very…useless. I don't like it."_

I sighed a little as Nero and I walked over to a Gyro blade that was nearby. Now comes the fun part, how do we move it?

Surprisingly it didn't take long to move it at all. We had to hit it once to make it wake up; then hit it again for these sharp blades to come flying out.

Nero had to push it towards the door to the library because something was blocking our way. And the Gyro blade did its job as it smashed open the thing blocking our way. Once the way was clear we set off back into the castle. Though this time we decided to take a breather and rest for a bit.

We took advantage of one of one of the many rooms in the castle and hid inside. The room turned out to be one of the bedrooms of the castle, and it looked like nobody had been in it for years. Cobwebs and dust were everywhere, but I didn't care, I was dead tired from all the fighting. There was a fire place but we couldn't start a fire, it would attract the demons to where we were.

Yeah, that wouldn't be fun.

I walked over to the bed and flopped on it releasing a sigh, it was really a really soft bed, and though the room looked like no one used it the sheets smelled very clean. I sat back up just as Nero sat on the couch that was nearby.

I took my quiver and bow off but stopped suddenly to take the chance to look at my arrows. To see if there were any magical properties added to them. Examining the arrow closely I noticed a matching rune carved into each individual arrow and another rune carved into the quiver on it.

"_I wonder…?"_

I grabbed the bow and strung back an arrow and let it fly. It landed where Nero's head would be if he wasn't dipped down taking off his boots.

He slowly leaned his head back up and looked back at the arrow then looked at me a glare in his eyes as he sneered at me.

"Are you trying to kill me!?" he hissed. I rolled my eyes at him.

"Move you giant fat head real quick" I hissed back. Nero smirked at me and crossed his arms over his chest.

"And if I don't?" he asked driving my patience.

He really wanted that kick in the groin didn't he? Fine. We'd do this my way.

"Move!" I nearly shouted lunging at him. Before he could react I shoved his head back so I could see the arrow. It was there for a few seconds more before it dissolved away. I quickly glanced back at my quiver just as it appeared back inside.

"That's how I never run low on arrows! It must be the runes…" I said aloud amazed. _"These Order weapons are awesome!"_

"Cool, will you get off me?" Nero hissed at me. I glared at him but pushed his head down to where it hit the arm rest and jumped off him before he could grab me.

He growled lowly at me, but I childishly stuck my tongue out at him, and his eyes just narrowed at me. But he soon raised his eyebrow in confusion as I pulled a bag of sweet tarts from one of my many pockets.

I dumped a butt loud of them into a plastic bag so I could get to them easier. I always have some type of sweet candy with me in my 'Candy Pocket.'

My friends have nicknamed me Candy Land because I'm the one in the group who always has candy on me. I even take it to school with me as well, and I manage to keep out of trouble with the teachers most of the time. It's more fun though when your friend who has diabetes hooks you up with pure sugar tablets, how I love Casey.

I'll have you know candy helps speed up your brain helps it function faster.

"You have candy….why?" Nero asked still with a raised eyebrow. I popped a purple tablet into my mouth and bit into it before answering.

"Cause I like sweets. People who know me real well know I always have some type of sweets on me. Halloween is a holiday I worship" I told him smiling as I grabbed another tablet.

Nero nodded but had a thinking look on his face.

"What's Halloween like?" he asked. I blinked a few times confused. _"He's never…celebrated Halloween before? That's like…that's like…a __sin!__Blasphemy!" _

"You've never celebrated it before? Never went trick or treating or just egged someone's car or TP-ed a house?" I asked him tossing him a couple tablets. Which he easily caught. He shook his head.

"Fortuna isn't one to celebrate holidays. In fact the only thing we celebrate around here is the Festival of the Sword" he informed me. My jaw basically hit the floor.

"How 'bout Christmas?" I asked.

Nero shook his head no.

Easter.

Nope.

Valentine's day.

Don't want anybody getting too 'close'.

Thanksgiving.

Nada.

St. Patrick's day.

I have no idea what holiday that is.

Fourth of July, wait never mind only Americans celebrate that.

For every Holiday I mentioned I got a negative response, or a response of ignorance. I knew Fortuna was a religious place, but…to ban the celebration of all holidays that were not their own? That was…sad. And kind of horrifying.

"You were sheltered as a child weren't you?" I questioned. Which made Nero turn into grumpy pants again.

"Are the Holidays fun?" Nero asked quietly. I smiled at him and nodded rapidly.

"Loads. Halloween you get to dress up and go trick or treating to get candy or just prank friends or teachers you hate." I began. "Christmas is fun also you can play in the snow and get presents and candy. Also two weeks off from school to spend time with family and friends" I rambled.

I told Nero a little bit about each holiday ending it with the Fourth of July. His eyes seemed to change into happiness as I explained each holiday. I can't believe he hasn't experienced these holidays. That meant Kyrie hadn't either.

"_I really,__really__do not like Fortuna. At All. Not even a little. This is ridiculous. How do they even get laid around there? Honestly!"_

I saw some kids wandering around there, so they must believe in dating…unless they adopt kids from other nearby towns and stuff. _"Aww screw Fortuna."_I thought as I put my sweet tarts back in my pocket.

"So where'd ya learn to shoot a bow so good?" Nero asked leaning back on the couch.

"My dad. He was always a good hunter and I asked if he could teach me too so he did. Every fall we go hunting together" I explained leaning my quiver and bow on the bedside table.

Well we used to go hunting together but ever since the accident we stopped going up north.

"Soon after that I began competing in archery competitions. And I guess from there my skill level went up" I finished. Nero nodded.

"I see, well you're the first person who can keep up with me" he stated. I smiled a little and nodded yawning a little.

"Hey how long we gonna stay in here?" I asked. Nero put a thinking look on his face his head slightly cocked to the side in thought.

"Two hours but then we have to continue on" he told me.

"_Perfect."_I thought _"at least I could get some shut eye."_

I grabbed my IPod from another random pocket of mine and unwound the ear buds and placed them in my ears.

Turning it on temporally blinded me, but I soon got used to it as I sifted through all my favorite songs to the song I was looking for, I smiled as I soon found it. Clicking it, the slow soothing melody filled my mind as I lay back on the bed.

My mix-matched eyes stared up at the dark ceiling before me as I felt my eyes begin to get heavy.

This song has and will always work to get me to sleep, it goes without saying. But, if I don't listen to this song I can't fall asleep. No matter how hard I try I can't. Call me a baby if you want. But I don't care. I slipped into darkness as I dreamed of someone I've longed to see for a long time.

My Mother.

I was standing before her as she sat in a rocking chair gently rocking back and forth. A little baby was in her arms, calmly laying there. Staring up at her mother mesmerized at the song she was singing.

_Hush-a-by_

_Don't you cry_

_Go to sleep my little baby._

The scene instantly changed to where the baby was older now, she looked about five. Her short brown hair was brushed back behind her ears and the little girl stared up at her mother with scared little eyes. She must have had a nightmare for she was wearing her pajamas and held a teddy bear in a vice like grip.

_When you wake you shall have…All the pretty little horses._

The little girl relaxed hearing her mother's soothing song. Her mother held her tight as her daughter leaned into her touch. A sense of sleepiness taking over the small child as the first few cords of the song rang into her ears.

The mother picked up her child and rocked her gently in her arms.

_dapples, grays, pintos, and bays._

_All the pretty little horses_.

Once again the scene changed but instead of seeing the mother the little girl was now older and stared at a tombstone. The girl and her family were all dressed in black as they mourned for the loss of the young girl's mother.

The little girl's friends were there as support but the world to the little girl felt like it was ripped to shreds. And hell had come and thrown her world off balance as the demons danced in happiness at her sadness and guilt.

_Way down yonder, in the meadow._

_Poor little baby crying mama._

The girl cried silent tears as her mind screamed out for her mother to hold her and her little brother. And sing the lullabies she would always sing them when they were scared or needed help getting to sleep.

_Birds, and the butterflies_

_Flutter around his eyes._

_Poor little baby crying mama._

A butterfly landed on the young girl's hand. It was said it's a sign of good luck when they land on you. But, what good luck can come now?

Her world was torn apart.

_Hush-a-bye, don't you cry, Go to sleep my little baby._

_When you wake you shall have All the pretty little horses._

No longer would the young girl hear her mother sing all the pretty little horses to her. To help her sleep at night despite her age. She was very close to her mother as was her brother.

Her brother's lullaby was different than hers, but her baby brother could still hear his lullaby. The girl would sing it to him and tell him about their mom, he was 7 and lost his mother, the young girl was 10.

_Dapples, and grays, pintos, and bays._

_All the pretty little horses._

**Nero's POV**

Ashe instantly fell asleep as soon as she clicked some song on her IPod. Wow I've never seen anyone fall asleep that fast before.

**"The girl is interesting is she not?"**

I growled lightly, there's that voice again in my head.

"Shut up" I hissed. The voice laughed in my head in delight.

**"Did I strike a nerve or something. I'm just saying she's interesting, in other words I like the fire she has"**

I huffed and put my hands behind my head in a make shift pillow.

"She's annoying"

**"You like her being annoying I can tell. No one else acts the way she does"**the purred.

I had a sense that my demon side was looking at her. I rolled my eyes and mentally gagged earning a laugh once again.

"Mom" I heard Ashe whisper. Causing me to glance over at her, a tear slipped from her shut eye as she shifted in her sleep.

"_Did something happen to her mom? Hmmmm, I'll ask her about it later I guess_." I thought as I closed my eyes to try and get some sleep.

**"She's upset. Ya know you should comfort her, I know you can sense her distress"**my devil whispered.

"Are you done talking?" I asked it.

A simple laugh was my reply before he stopped talking. But, he was right I could sense he distress.

She was sad. _"Aw, Damn it."_I took a deep breath and sighed before standing up and walking over to the bed.

I lifted the covers back and tucked her underneath them, careful not to yank the ear buds in her ear. I was sure if I did she would wake up, once she was covered up.

Ashe automatically snuggled into the covers and sighed contently. Like whatever was plaguing her mind drifted away quickly.

Retreating back to the couch I lay down, and closed my eyes once more as sleep soon came for me as well.

**"Someone likes annoying girl"**my devil side snickered. I hissed at it quietly, and turned on my side ignoring its laughter the whole time.

**XxxXxx**

**Alex: Kinda a short chapter but Ashe and Nero get closer a little bit more and you get a little insight into Ashe's past. More of her past will be revealed in later chapters. So please review.**

**Wolf: Ha! These past couple day have been _insane_, but I finally got to this!**


	7. Gyro Blades and a disturbing boss

**Alex: Here's the next chapter to It's Just A Game. So please enjoy it. God I love my friend he's letting me borrow his DMC3 game, now all I need to do is find my memory card. Also I'm gonna switch my little quotes I put to some DMC quotes.I'm gonna be sad if I can't find it T.T**

**Wolf: Hey –waves-How is everyone enjoying IJAG? Also, Alex I edited the last scene with Nero's Devil Side Out and rewrote it. I hope you don't mind.**

Bold: **Nero's devil Side talking**

Bold and Italics: _**Nero's Devil Side thinking to itself.**_

**XxxXxx**

**Chapter 7: Gyro Blades and a Disturbing Boss**

_"Oh, speaking of a kind devil, he finally decided on the name for his shop. It took him quite a while to pick one. Wanna know the name?"_

**Devil May Cry**

**Ashe's POV**

I snuggled in to the warmth that surrounded me as I started to wake up slightly. "_That was _the_weirdest dream I ever had."_I thought _"Why would I dream I was in Devil May Cry 4 traveling with Nero? It was so realistic almost like I was really there…Nero's an ass…"_

Wanting to get more sleep I snuggled closer into the covers. _"Why is the room so cold? It's August it shouldn't be like this…Meh, I'll worry about it later."_I shook off the thoughts, and got ready to go back to sleep, butsomething shook me. I frowned and ignored whoever was shaking me. Probably Daemon again, he never lets me sleep in. Daemon shook me harder now intent on getting me up.

I groaned and turned around to face away from him.

"Daemon go `way" I whined and buried myself underneath the covers. He didn't shake me again so I assumed he left the room.

Before I could react I landed on the ground with a thump. Now wide awake I growled at Daemon.

"What was that for!?" I shouted turning to face him, only to see Nero standing before me; I blinked a couple times in confusion. _"It wasn't a dream! Aww Damn it."_

My shock soon turned into anger as I glared at the white haired male in front of me.

"What the hell was that for?" I hissed standing up. The ear buds had fallen from my ear as I shifted in my sleep. Nero crossed his arms over his chest and gave me his usual punk attitude.

"I tried shaking you but you just called me Daemon and rolled away. You left me no choice" he said back. I shook my head at him as I grabbed my IPod and wrapped it back up and stuffed it into my pocket.

"Sorry thought you were my little brother waking me up" I apologized for yelling at him. Nero uncrossed his arms and shook his head at me.

"It's fine. Anyway let's go" he told me walking over to the door. Instead of leaving me like I thought he would, he stood and waited by the door before heading out.

Weird.

I shook that off as I quickly zipped up my converses. I never untie them I mean after all you just need to zip them up. So after doing that I pulled on my quiver and bow and headed out with Nero.

He peered down the hallway looking both ways as if he was going to cross a street. I knew he was making sure that no demons were nearby, and once the coast was clear we set off once again into the God forsaken castle.

**Nero's POV**

My devil side laughed in my head its voice echoing as though it was in an empty room.

**"Nice save other self. I thought for sure you would lose points with her"**

My eye twitched in annoyance. _"I don't like her. I've explained this already."_I thought back to my demon side. He just laughed at me.

**"Keep telling yourself that. She's different than those religious imbeciles, and way different then that Kyrie. Unlike the town Ashe accepts us as we are. Faults and all."**

I closed my eyes for a brief moment before opening them again. My eyes narrowed slightly as I stared down the long hallway we were in.

_"That's not true. Kyrie and Credo accept me. Their parents too, they took me in"_I said back, earning a long sigh as my response.

**"Only because your parents left you on their doorstep when you were a baby. Face it Other-Self. Kyrie and Credo haven't seen your arm. They don't know you have demonic blood"**my devil side started. **"Ashe has seen your arm and accepts us for who we are. Remember that Stupid Me"**

I didn't really have anything to say to that. It was the truth. I knew it. My Devil knew it. So I didn't say anything.

**Ashe's POV**

I was left to my thoughts as we walked towards a Blue Barrier, since Nero hadn't said a word since we left the room earlier. _"Nero is being really quiet. Usually we would be butting heads by now. We're not for once. Not yet anyway…"_Our footsteps echoed down the hallway as we moved. There were no other sounds, and it was a little creepy that a demon hadn't popped out of nowhere yet. _"Brilliant Ashe. Brilliant. Somehow…I have jinxed it. And since when was it_creepy_to not have demons jumping out at me? Dear God. I've been here too long."_

We got through the barrier and I inspected the Gyro Blades. Two were obviously missing, so now we would have to go on the hunt for them.

Luckily one Gyro Blade was nearby but a barrier was blocking the way, so we had to activate one of the Gyro Blades in the room with us, and push it over to the barrier, then activate it another time to made the blades start rotating so Nero could buster it into the barrier…which shattered it instantly, but, made a bunch of Scarecrows appear in the hallway. _"I_so_jinxed it! Damn!"_

"Bring it!" Nero shouted charging into battle with Red Queen. I was about to head out after him to help, but an idea sparked in my mind.

I turned and tapped the Gyro Blade making it come alive. Tapping it again made the blades began spinning lazily; hitting it once more made the blades began spinning like crazy. I had to take a step back so I wouldn't get hit, leaning down I began pushing it towards all the Scarecrows.

"Nero Move!" I shouted. He glanced over at me just as I gave the Gyro blade a hard shove, causing the blade to go flying down the hallway.

Nero quickly jumped out of the way, just in time too. The Blade slammed into all the demons killing them all, and the blade continued down the hall killing all the other Scarecrows that had spawned there.

I grinned. "We can use these instead of wasting all our energy on the small fry" I told him as Nero walked over to me.

"Not bad Annoying Girl" he smirked at me. I rolled my eyes at him.

"Seriously I told you my name. It's Ashe say it with me A-SHE" I told him sounding out my name. In a way I reminded myself of Koda from Brother Bear.

"Sure thing…Annoying girl" Nero replied back as he began pushing the Gyro blade away. My eye twitched in annoyance. _"One day Nero….One day I will have my revenge and you won't see it coming."_

The puzzle we had to figure out was really easy, all we had to do was put four Gyro Blades on these glowing circles on the ground.

Note that when we went through the dining hall and into the next hallway fireballs almost incinerated us.

What the hell kind of castle is this!?

It shoots fireballsout of walls.

Fireballs.

What kind of castle does that?!

Seriously…it's like somebody intentionally set up that fireball contraption. I actually contemplated on using Nero as a shield but he wouldn't let me. He's no fun.

So after collecting them all and fighting some Scarecrows that re-spawned around the area we set off into the Arena.

Where, of course there was a Blizzard. A freezing cold Blizzard. _"Suddenly I know what the fireballs were for."_I wrapped my arms around myself, while Nero just stood there like it was the middle of summer. _"What the crap? Who would be moaning in a place like this?"_I glanced around and noticed two women floating in front of us.

Naked.

In a Blizzard.

Moaning.

"_What the heck is this?"_

"Come over here" One cooed.

"Don't you want to dance?" the other asked seductively.

"_Please tell me they're talking to Nero. I don't have anything against people who do, but _I_ don't roll that way. Particularly with naked women in a Blizzard."_

The two women floated towards each other and wrapped their arms together. They were dancing as one while calling out to Nero. _"I'm going to pretend they're talking to Nero even though what they're doing right now implies that they're talking to me. Yeah. Nero. Not me."_

I tried to ignore what they were doing as they cooed "Don't you want to come? Come over here. Dance with us."

"This blizzard must be these demons" Nero said clenching his devil bringer into a fist.

"There calling out to you right?" I asked ignoring what he said. "I mean…I don't swing that way. I don't have anything against the people who do, but could they please leave _me_ out of it?" _"I'm going to be scared for life. Never again will I look at snow the same way."_

"No, they're calling to both of us. More you though I think" he smirked at me. I glared at him and slugged him in the arm.

"Well I don't roll that way. So my response to this is to just attack." I told him pulling my bow out and stringing an arrow back.

"Sounds like a plan to me." he stated revving Red Queen. We ran over to the blue woman and began attacking, though my arrows weren't doing so well since the damn things kept dodging them.

I managed to hit one after a couple of misses though, and Nero was having the same dodging problem I was though he managed to hit them as well. We only managed to hit them a few times before something jumped out of the shadows._"Huh…Why did it get so dark when we started attacking?"_

I jumped back and fell on my butt in the snow as a huge ass toad covered in frozen spikes with very sharp looking teeth jumped out.

"_Why are all the Bosses based on animals? Is it always going to be like this? It just keeps getting better and better!"_

Nero landed next to me, a smirk dancing across his features.

"So this is what you really look like" he stated pointing at him slightly.

"You're stronger then you look. With a smart ass mouth to match" was the toad's response with his red eyes narrowing and his tongue flapping about.

A putrid smell filled my senses. _"Oh, oh gross! Nasty! What the hell is this?! It's worse than the Scarecrows!"_

He smelled like sewer water and other disgusting things I didn't want to think about. I winced as green slime flew from his mouth and landed on the pure white snow below.

"_Awwww man now the snow has been defiled. That stands as rape!"_

"Cut me some slack. I'm just not big on toads" Nero said. "Judging from the look on Annoying Girl's face she isn't either, frankly you're disturbing her" he continued glancing at me a little.

The toad sucked in his breath as he glared at us in rage, his throat puffing out hugely.

"FOOOOOL!" he shouted causing the air around us to blow back and kick up the snow a bit.

I clamped a hand over my nose as my eyes watered slightly from the smell of his breath.

"_Oh lord. I'm going to throw up! This is…revolting! Agghh!"_

"You think I care what you say!" he shouted at Nero. I waved my hand around my face to get rid of the gross stench in the air.

Nero was brushing himself off, the green slim like saliva had gotten on him a little._"Please tell me it didn't get on me…"_I glanced down, and I groaned a bit as I began doing the same as Nero. _"This is so, so nasty. Oh jeez."_

"If we don't finish this quickly, it's gonna scar me for life" Nero said

I shook my hand off and responded "You and me both."

The toad demon didn't appreciate that at all and yelled at us again. This time his breath was stronger as the area around us suffered.

"I will crush you!" he shouted. His voice echoing into the night, Nero used his human arm to cover his ear. I clamped both hands over my ears but that didn't even help, I was sure my ears were ringing due to this toad's screaming.

Nero sighed and shook his head lightly as he began walking forward.

Oh boy, boss battle time.

Unlike Berial this not so frog prince was based on ice instead of fire. _"On the bright side we won't be burned to death…on the not so bright side Hypothermia is a very real possibility."_

Demons seriously don't like to make things easier on us do they?

The toad hopped around some and once even lunged at me obviously trying to eat me. Nero pulled me out of the way at the last second thankfully.

After a couple hits the toad moved back away from us, and the darkness of the shadows surrounded the area again.

The two naked blue women fell down to the ground and began advancing towards me.

Yes me, not Nero, but me!

"Ok really!" I shouted as I took off running. Not much I could do since these things were very good at dodging. "Why me damn it?!"

"Maybe they think you roll that way" I heard Nero laugh.

"Shut the hell up!" I shouted back to him as I ran around in circles, trying not to get caught by them. Since they were after me it gave Nero time to attack them causing Mr. Toad to come out and play.

I aimed an arrow and hit him straight in the forehead causing some good damage. Combined with Nero's shot from Blue Rose it worked well. He sagged forward in a tired position, his tongue dropping out of his mouth. I growled "Keep your creepy blue ladies to yourself thanks."

Nero used this time to use Buster on him. After a couple more hits the toad was out like a light sorta…really he just jumped back a bit and decided to retaliate by sending one of the blue women at me.

Nero quickly got in front of me, caught it, and with a grunt he lifted her up and flipped her over. Still in Nero's grasp he spun around a couple times and sent her flying towards the huge slab of stone.

"_I…didn't notice that before. Huh. It's glowing like that stone that Berial came out of! Only…it's purple. Does Fortuna have these things everywhere?"_

The force of the throw made the antenna that held the blue woman onto the Toad rip off. Nero was still holding onto her, but not for long as the woman began glowing a green color and Nero's arm absorbed it in, once again it ate something.

It was still worrying me.

Nero looked at his arm in confusion but snapped out of it when the demon began talking again.

"You think…You've…beaten me!?" he wheezed out. "Never! You piece of…" Nero growled lowly at him and turned his gaze on Mr. Toad.

"That's exactly what I think" he said clenching his fist. The frog demon was stuck on his back trying to get on his legs. For all intents and purposes he looked like a turtle. A very ugly turtle.

"My brothers…will come…They-" he started but trailed off as Nero jumped high into the air and punched the Toad in the forehead with his Devil Arm. Greenish blood spewed out as the demon flew into the air spinning straight into the castle wall where he hit the ground and never moved again, dead as a doornail.

Nero landed next to me.

"Wow. You Falcon Punched him in the Face. Nice." I praised. I've seen guys punch people before but Nero's takes the cake.

"C'mon that's just nasty" he muttered looking at his arm. Oh, yeah is arm absorbed a lesbian demon. I snickered a little, poor Nero.

"Wait….did he say 'Brothers'?" he questioned glancing back up the huge slab of stone. The ground trembled a bit as what felt like a huge stampede of demons were coming towards us.

And lo and behold there were all the brothers of Frogger surging towards us with angry looks and hostile auras I could feel from here, my jaw hit the floor. Man his parents were busy Jesus there's like a hundred of them!

"That's not fair" I whined. Nero sighed.

"Oh that's fair" he said agreeing with me "Now we got to fight a whole herd of these things" he continued as he took off running.

Jumping up once again he bounced on Mr. Toad's stomach and punched the first demon frog that tried to pass making him smash into the other toads behind him, clearing the slash in the stone.

Nero's human hand touched a pedestal that was nearby, and a bright light appeared on the huge slab of stone sealing the rip up as if it wasn't there.

How'd he do that?

Frogger's body absorbed into the ground just like all the other dead demons did.

I didn't know if they were returning to hell but judging from what he said. He is truly dead if his many brothers were coming to avenge him.

"That was a disturbing fight" I muttered, shuddering a bit. He only smirked at me and I frowned. _"What's he up to?"_

"Are you positive you don't roll that way?" he questioned. A vein popped on my head as my eyes narrowed at him.

"Yes, I don't roll that way. I'm into men stupid" I hissed back Nero laughed in amusement as he turned away from me to head through the other door that was in the area.

"_I said I'd have my revenge, well now is as good a time as any!"_I leaned down to the snow, grabbed a hand full of snow and molded it into a snow ball. I didn't care if my hands were cold to the point of being numb I wanted revenge on him, and I was going to get it.

Aiming at his fat head I fired, the snow ball soared through the air and connected with the back of his head.

Nero froze mid-stride; his body slowly turned around to glare at me as I put an innocent look on my face.

"What?" I asked him cocking my head to the side in an innocent fashion. Nero growled at me and kicked snow at me as his revenge. I yelped and jumped back only getting hit a little bit. Forming another snowball I fired again, but this time I nailed him in the face.

He threw a snowball too and hit my face.

That was the beginning of an all-out Snow war.

Human vs. Halfling.

Who will win?

I grinned evilly.

**Nero's Devil Side's POV**

"_**On one hand this is a very childish thing for my Human side to be doing. On the other hand, Ashe is smiling and laughing."**_

I smiled a bit._**"Nero you fool. Do you not see what is right in front of you? She knows you are a Halfling, she knows you could crush her without trying, she knows everything about you is enhanced and yet…She is willing to play in the snow with you, she does not flinch away when you pin her to the floor with one hand, she only laughs and rolls you into the snow. She does not fear you, the demons around you, or me. She accepts us as we are, no questions asked, no catches. I hope you see what I do before it is too late, Stupid Other Me."**_I purred lowly. Ashe was an interesting human. I'd have to watch out for her, since Other Me is an idiot.

**XxxXxx**

**Alex: Sorry I didn't put a whole lot of detail in the boss battle motivation was a little down for that part. Next chapter will feature mission 5 and 6, god I've been so excited for mission 6. And those that have played DMC4 should know epicenes I swear anyway as always please review^^**

**Wolf: Well…Did you like that last POV Alex? I DID IT! Whoo! Now we can get to missions 5 and 6! For those of you interested in the anime Katekyo Hitman Reborn I have started editing Alex's story Partner in Crime. Speaking of which Did you replace the chapter 2 yet Alex?**


	8. Yamato

**Alex: So like I said last time missions 5 and 6 will be put together to make this chapter long. God I've been itching to type up mission 6 and now I can. You'll love it I know so on with the chapter!**

**Wolf: Yo. Still here! XP**

**XxxXxx**

**Chapter 8: Yamato**

"_Foolishness, Dante, foolishness. Might controls everything, and without strength, you cannot protect anything. Let alone yourself."_

**Ashe's POV**

Nero was Hell-bent on getting revenge on me for throwing the snowball as well as the stuff I did to annoy him. Snow was tossed back and forth, between the two of us and the cold air was nipping at my face.

I was sure my cheeks were a rosy pink color due to the snow. I could see my breath in little puffs as I panted for breath. Needless to say I haven't participated in a snow ball fight since my mother was still alive.

I could hear Nero running after me as I let out a laugh which only fueled the fire as our war waged on.

I suddenly gasped as my foot sunk into a deep part of the snow making my knee buckle so Nero had a chance to tackle me to the ground, where we rolled for a couple seconds before stopping.

Something heavy ended up on top of me. I opened my eyes since they were closed and my eyes widened like a deer caught in headlights.

Nero was lying on top of me in a straddle type position with his face was very close to mine. Close enough that our lips almost touched, and his face was dusted a light pink color. My face heated up into a blush as well. Nero quickly got off me and mumbled a sorry as he stood up. I stood up as well dusting the snow off myself. In that exact moment I don't think I've ever seen such interesting snow. Nero apparently agreed since he was staring at the snow as well.

When he saw me looking at him slightly he looked away his face going a deeper red. He scratched his nose and quickly sauntered off to the next area._"Good plan."_I thought as I followed lagging behind slightly. A couple minutes later we went back to normal, no more blushing or avoiding each other's gazes. _"At least I didn't lose. That was_so_a draw."_

So through the next door we went and arrived at a cemetery. I groaned mentally. _"This just keeps getting better and_better_! A cemetery. Of course there's a cemetery. Why not?"_

I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. My whole body went rigid instantly. I stopped walking and glanced backwards at the door where we just came through.

"Something wrong?" Nero asked pulling me from my observations. I turned to him and shook my head.

"Thought I saw something, never mind" I told him. He turned and we kept moving, but only for a few feet, where we froze.

A ghost like demon sticking out of our chests was a good enough reason to freeze in my book. My heart skipped a beat and almost stopped entirely as its black eyes stared into my mix-matched ones.

I clenched my fists to keep myself from shaking; the feeling of dread and fear washing over me as it continued to stare at me, but once it glided out of my body the feeling left and another one joined it. _"They sort of look like Harry Potter Dementors…"_

I shook the thought off as Nero ran forward a bit to try and grab it, but the Dementor thing easily dodged as another one joined it. The three Dementors swirled around each other in a dance-like way. They hissed menacingly at us when they stopped gliding around.

I sighed and tried to grab my bow, but the air was freezing on top of the fact that my hands were both numb from shoving them into snow to make snowballs. I couldn't feel them at all. All I knew was they were so cold it actually hurt.

Despite that pain, I wanted to help out. Nero didn't use Blue Rose or Red Queen and was instead trying to Buster the new enemy out of the sky. I was attempting to shoot an arrow, but it wasn't working. My hands were so frozen I couldn't wrap my hands around an arrow let alone my bow, and the idea of using both was a joke right now. I was stuck dodging the entire battle much to Nero's annoyance.

Nero defeated the Dementor which he told me was called a Mephisto and walked over with the same annoyed look on his face. "You could have helped Annoying Girl." I felt my eye twitch.

"Well sorry I couldn't feel my hands!" I growled at him.

"Whatever."

I glared at him then stomped ahead of him to the door a few feet away.

**Nero's POV**

**"You're losing points other me"**my devil side said in an angry tone. I rolled my eyes as I trailed behind Ashe who was currently trying to get her hands warm by rubbing them together.

_"Like I care"_

"**Oh but you **do** care Other Me. I know. I **_**am**_**you after all. Why don't you warm her up? We do retain body heat much better than her…why not pass it on?"**I couldn't help the blush that showed up and I could practically hear the smirk he sent my way.

"_Hell no!"_I snapped back quickly. I could hear my devil laughing at me.

"**Hahaha! I only meant to grab her hands Other Me, you're the one who took it the wrong way."**There was a short pause **"But I must admit…That is a **_**very**_**intriguing idea."**

I closed my eyes briefly and shook my head as my blush deepened further. _"No. Nono. I will not go there. Ashe is a friend. Nothing more and nothing less. Kyrie is the one I love…not Ashe. Not Ashe."_I shook my head again.

**Ashe's POV**

I walked through the door and was immediately assaulted by warm air once the door closed behind Nero. I glanced around the room and spotted a fireplace with a fire going, which I quickly approached trying to ignore the fact that this room appeared to be Sanctus' bedroom and the fact that my body was starting to burn as it thawed. It felt good though even if I was still cold and shivering.

I had only been standing there for a couple of seconds before I gasped in surprise as something wonderfully warm was draped over my shoulders. When I looked down to see what it was I quickly realized it was Nero's coat.

I looked over at Nero who scratched his nose and looked away with a light blush staining his face. I blushed lightly as well, but I grabbed his coat and slipped it on correctly as I waited for my body to warm up even more. I buried my nose into the jacket since I couldn't feel it and the jacket was warm, and his scent was all I could smell. It was…nice. I could feel my face darken at the thought.

It only took a few minutes for my body to warm up enough for me to move normally again so I slipped the jacket off and handed it back _"I need to get me a jacket like that."_"Thanks Nero." He nodded and scratched his nose. _"Aww…He scratches his nose and plays it off as nothing when he's embarrassed about something he's done…That's actually cute…"_

I stopped and my eyes widened. _"Whoa Ashe. What are you doing? Nero likes Kyrie. He's off limits, and just…no. It's not like that for us; he even thinks I'm annoying. Not gonna happen"_I jogged to catch up with Nero, who hadn't noticed my pause, and we entered the Torture chamber again. We now had access to a Gyro Blade and switch that had been blocked earlier.

Nero activated the switch and soon a gate lifted to let us get to the Gyro Blade, the spikes on the ceiling lifted up higher and the other set of spikes lowered to form a bridge so we had a pathway to cross. _"Oh…_This_is lovely. Just what I planned on doing today. Exactly what I planned. Crossing a bridge that's basically floating over spikes with a lovely drop underneath that would kill me on impact while Mr. Grumpy over there would walk away fine. Yep. This was the plan."_

I tried to stop thinking about falling while I checked out the other end of the spike bridge. There was a blue statue there which I guessed we were supposed to break with this Gyro Blade. Nero seemed to think the same since he activated the Blade and sent it down the bridge. I followed him down and he smashed the statue.

What I hadn't counted on was the floor getting destroyed along with it.

I screamed. "NERO! YOU BROKE THE CASTLE!" I knew I squeaked near the end of that sentence as Nero caught me on his way down with all the rubble. He readjusted his grip on me as we fell into a Well-like area and he landed gracefully like it had all been planned ahead of time. Mephistos were quick to greet us.

"_Oh good! I get to fight this time! HA!"_I notched and fired an arrow at the Mephisto closest to me. I hit its cloak and pulled it off causing the Mephisto to fall to the floor as an oversized bug that reminded me of a spider and a scorpion at the same time. It started scurrying towards me where I instinctively lifted my foot and pinned it with my heel. I looked away, ignoring its squirming and pressed down hard with my heel increasing the pressure until I heard a popping noise and its blood sprayed on everything including my face.

I wrinkled my nose and my stomach turned as I wiped the black blood off of myself. I shuddered once I got it all off and used the water down here to clean my shoe.

Before anything could happen another demon showed up. I stared at it. It looked like the Mephisto. _"Oh for the love of…! WHY must everything have a 'Big Brother'?!"_

After the fight with the new enemy the red barrier that had appeared earlier broke. I walked over and grabbed what was inside.

It was a small red tablet with writing etched into it.

_**Wing Talisman**_

_**A talisman made of Crystallized angel can stimulate a divine response in specific equipment.**_

"_Huh, I wonder when we'll use this…Wing Talisman….Can we fly now? I would personally _love _some wings about now. No more plummeting to my death and praying Nero is fast enough to get me so I don't go splat…That would be nice…"_As if sensing my thoughts the circular objects that were scattered throughout the well lit up a brilliant red color.

"Guess this is our way out" Nero said jumping on one. Instantly he shot up like a rocket, and to show off he even skillfully jumped on the other ones higher up.

"Hey, wait for me!" I shouted to him.

No reply. That Ass!

Shaking my head I cautiously walked over and looked at the pad like object. _"Well…here goes nothing. If I miss one of the other Bouncy Pads and plummet to my death…I'm haunting Nero for the rest of his probably extra-long life."_I took a deep breath and stepped into the bouncy pad. I shot upwards instantly. I must have made quite a sight with my long hair flying behind me while I twisted my way to the next Pad. I couldn't help the giggle that escaped. _"This is fun! It's a trampoline on steroids!"_As I moved on to the next pad I saw Nero dropping back towards the ground probably in an attempt to get me. He didn't look too happy to pass me by either.

I waved at him with a cheeky little grin on my face as he passed. I landed on the last Bounce Pad and ended up on the threshold of the Torture Chamber.

Everything would have been fine except Gravity decided to see if it was still working. My balance faltered on my landing and I teetered backwards with wide fearful eyes.

"Watch it Annoying Girl. You wouldn't make a good floor stain." I'd never been more thrilled to hear Nero's voice in my life. He immediately had his arms wrapped around my waist as he held me steady.

"I don't think so either. Thanks for the save." Nero nodded at me and let go. _"How big is this castle? We've been in here awhile. I mean…come on! I'm almost positive we've been in every room in here and we've only found one thing…except demons. There are a lot of those."_ I shook the thoughts off as another Red Barrier popped up. _"Those things are really starting to piss me off."_I growled lowly in annoyance that only increased when I realized how many Frosts and Mephistos showed up.

On top of all the enemies the spikes were even lower than before so Nero couldn't really jump without stabbing himself and the cages had dropped lower as well and were almost touching the floor. During my fight with a Mephisto I managed to crash head first into one of those cages were I made the discovery that the cages actually had dead bodies inside. I had noticed them before, but running head first into one really lets you get a really nice look at the rotting flesh. I jerked away from it sharply and tripped over my own feet and stumbled backwards into Nero who had thankfully finished off the rest of the demons. My bow was sitting on the floor where I had dropped it shortly after crashing into the cage.

Nero let out grunt while I let out a shriek as we collided together. We, once again, ended up in an awkward position, but this time it was me on top of Nero. We weren't almost kissing this time though. This time I was full on straddling his hips while his hands were gripping my hips. Neither of us moved for a few minutes and just stared wide eyed at each other before jumping apart from each other.

"Sorry about that, that was my fault" I was quick to apologize. My face was burning so much I was sure it was glowing and my eyes had slipped closed.

"No it was my fault I shouldn't have grabbed your hips. Sorry" Nero said just as quickly. Cracking one eye open I could see he was avoiding my gaze but his face was full blown red.

"It's fine…um…Let's just go. Kay?" He nodded and we started walking in an awkward silence. I was walking in front of him and didn't dare to glance back at him. I rounded a corner without looking and only caught a glance of Ice Blue before I was basically thrown into the wall and pressed down hard. My head smacked hard against the wall and I was out before I knew what had happened.

**Nero's POV**

I don't think I've ever been so red in my life.

"_That was all sorts of awkward."_**"Mmm I don't think so other me. I happen to think that was a **very **nice position"**

"_Shut up shut up shut up!"_ I could hear my Devil Side laughing at me.

I kept glancing at Ashe as she walked ahead of me and then away just in case she decided to look back. I tried to ignore my Devil's happy purring in the back of my head. She was a few feet ahead of me when she rounded the corner. She had only been out of sight for less than a second when my devil stopped purring and snapped **"Go Other Me!"**I shot forward and rounded the corner without question.

What I saw made my blood boil.

A Frost had ambushed Ashe and was in the process of crushing her limp body into the wall._"She had better not be dead."_There was a wordless snarl from my Devil half at the idea of Ashe being dead and I shot forward slamming Red Queen into the Frost's side and revving her. The Frost didn't seem to move for a moment before the strike caught up with it and it was blasted away from Ashe's body. I caught her limp form as she fell out of the wall and was relieved when I felt her breathing against my side. I lay her down on the floor and turned to face the two Frosts that had waited to ambush the two of us.

I sneered and shot forward. Red Queen was extra powerful in this battle as if she could sense my anger. The frosts were taken care of in minutes and I whirled around and kneeled by Ashe's unconscious form. I lifted her back off the ground and cradled her slightly as I called her name "Ashe? Ashe come on. Talk to me. Ashe. Ashe! Ashe wake up. Ashe! Ashe!" I could feel my devil half getting a little more anxious each time she didn't respond and it really wasn't helping my own anxiousness at the moment.

I sagged a little in relief when she stirred in my arms and lifted a hand to her head "Oh Ouch." I helped her finish sitting up. "Note to self. I have to look before I turn corners. Just like looking both ways before crossing the street. Ugh." She rubbed her head and moaned.

I couldn't help the chuckle that escaped. I was glad she was still alive to make little quips like that.

"**Other Me."**

"_I got it."_I pulled a Vital Star out of my pocket, silently glad I kept a few on hand at all times, and offered it to her.

**Ashe's POV**

When I came to, Nero was calling my name over and over again.

"Oh Ouch." I groaned slowly sitting up. His arm was around my back lifting me up gently in case my body decided it wasn't done sleeping the hit off.

"Note to self. I have to look before I turn corners. Just like looking both ways before crossing the street. Ugh." I rubbed my head with a moan. I heard Nero chuckle before something green was held in front of my face. I leaned away slightly to see a glowing green Star shaped thing.

Nero filled me in "It's a Vital Star. It'll stop your head from hurting."

I nodded and took it. _"I remember these things from the game. They give you back your health. Daemon never stocks up on them."_I unclasped the vial and downed the stuff. I ended up coughing _"Oh _nasty. _Ugh."_

"It's a little vile tasting but hey it helps" Nero said helping me up.

I took stood with his help "A little? That stuff is revolting. Like the really nasty Grape flavored Cough Syrup…or the Cherry Cough Syrup…or Cough Syrup in general…but your right. My head doesn't hurt anymore, which is really nice." We headed for the Grand Hall where the Wing Talisman started vibrating in my pocket. My first thought had been that I was receiving a Text before I remembered where I was and what was in that pocket. I pulled the Talisman out where it continued to vibrate. "This thing must be reacting to something" I began walking around the room when I came face to face with another bouncy pad.

I grinned widely _"Oh yes! I am so there! I _love_these things!"_I was quick to jump on it and was catapulted all the way up to the Chandelier hanging from the ceiling. Nero followed closely behind me and shot me a 'Why do you always run off' look.

I just cocked my head to the side in an innocent fashion and clasped my hands behind my back while I gave him a 'I have no idea what you're talking about' look.

He rolled his eyes and looked down at the pole connecting the Chandelier to the celling.

It was cracked a bit, which made me a little nervous about standing on it. Nero turned away to stare at the portrait of his Holiness Sanctus. I had a very nice view of the smirk that slowly spread over Nero's face before he chuckled a little and reached up for Red Queen. "Better hold on Ashe" he called back to me. I blinked a couple times confused.

"Nero what are you…" My eyes widened when I realized what his plan was, but I didn't have time to say anything before he finished the job the crack had started.

My stomach dropped to my feet as there was a clang noise. We seemed to hover in place for a second before gravity realized it had a job to do. The Chandelier started dropping before the chain that was attached to the front of the chandelier pulled us towards the portrait of his Holiness.

Nero had dropped to one knee and grabbed ahold of the chain-link like top while I grabbed and clung to him since he was the closest thing and we were already moving.

An explosion sounded as we fully slammed into the portrait. Dust filled the air as I felt Nero pick me up bridal style and jump down. I had slammed my eyes closed seconds before we slammed into the portrait. I didn't open them. There were several crashing noises which caused me to grip Nero tighter and bury my face in his shoulder. He didn't seem to mind that this time…or he just wasn't saying anything.

Several seconds later I felt my feet touch the floor, but Nero didn't let my waist go. "Everything's fine now, you can let go" he said.

I opened my eyes and nodded before I released my grip on him. He released my waist and I turned around to see a shattered wall which I expected, but there was also a secret entrance. "Well. You seem to have a thing for destruction of Private Property Nero…You need to leave some for me you know!" I smiled. _"Wow. A secret entrance? Well…doesn't this place keep getting better and _better_!"_

Nero beckoned me over to the Secret Entrance since we had to cross through it to continue moving forward. I sneezed from all the dust in the air as we walked over.

Nero stopped and shot me an amused look. "Was that supposed to be a sneeze?" he asked. I glared at him.

"Yes, it was a sneeze. I sneeze and hiccup in a high pitch manner, so?" I asked crossing my arms over my chest. All he did was laugh at me. I went to smack him in the back of his head, but he dodged it easily. We headed down a small staircase and came to a door. When we crossed through it all our joking and laughing stopped as we looked around at an Underground Laboratory. _"You've got to be kidding me. An Underground Lab? This has all the signs of a bad horror flick and we're walking right into it. There's going to be a Creeper Scientist. I can _feel_it."_We walked further in and there was a very deep hole with a platform above the hole. There were a few Bounce Pads but they weren't glowing red and since we wanted to go down I didn't think they'd help much. I leaned a little further out "I don't suppose there are Hay Stacks down there are there? Cause I can tell you right now I'm not doing a Leap of Faith without them."

Nero looked at me funny but I didn't clarify since he wouldn't understand the reference. Instead of answering he just suddenly exclaimed "Time to go!" before sweeping me into his arms and leaping. I knew I squeaked in his ear as we dropped.

It was probably the adrenaline rush, but as we were dropping through the air all I could think was _"You know…with all these pits and holes around I _really_need to kick a demon into one while yelling 'This. Is. Sparta.'"_I grinned widely. _"Next opportunity I'm gonna do it." _

We landed on a floor that appeared to be made of chain-link with a large slowly spinning fan underneath it. _"I don't like this. I have a bad feeling."_I looked around and shrugged the feeling off when no demons lunged for my face. I'd been a bit jumpy lately so I supposed I just needed to calm down. Both of us walked through a metal door into a place called 'RED Access.'

There wasn't much to look at since there was a giant circular door was blocking our way. Nero stared at it for a minute before backing up and taking off towards it at a full sprint.

I realized what he was planning and leaned on the nearest wall to watch what I knew was going to fail. Nero was strong, but that door was solid metal. He wasn't kicking it down.

Nero kicked it and flipped off the door before glaring at it when nothing happened. "Damn." He cursed annoyed.

I snorted "I don't think cursing or glaring at the door will open it Nero."

"You try opening it then" he snapped.

I didn't know what he thought I could do that he couldn't, but like Hell I was going to do nothing after that, so I glared at him, turned to the door and stared for a second before snapping "Open Sesame!"

There was only silence until Nero started laughing loudly.

"Open Sesame? Really?" he asked in between laughs.

I kicked him in the shin.

His laughter choked off as he glared at me. I glared back at him and spun on heel "Let's go find a switch or something." He didn't say anything, but he followed me.

_**SLASH**_

I froze at the sound of something being slashed into pieces before slowly turning to look a Nero hoping it had been him slashing something and not something else.

It wasn't Nero.

We both whipped around just in time to see the metal door falling into pieces and something swimming out from behind it. Three fish like demons darted_through_the floor as if it was water and circled the two of us like sharks do when observing prey with only their fins showing. _"Fan. Freakin. Tastic. Demons that can swim through metal and cut it into pieces. Lovely."_

Nero revved his sword a couple times before he drew it while I notched an arrow as we prepared to fight. _"This is gonna be great. Or bloody. One of the two."_One of the Steel Sharks jumped out of the ground towards me. Without thinking I released my arrow which hit it and sent it flying towards Nero who quickly cut it in half with a flaming sword. I grinned "Got ya." I whispered gleefully before swiftly dodge rolling to the side to miss another attack. Since Nero was killing the other one this one was all mine.

It jumped out of the ground at me but I kicked it in the face making it fly backwards. I dropped into a kneeling position and shot my arrow before the shark had even hit the ground where it died midair.

I stood with a smirk. "Well then. That was fun." Nero rolled his eyes at me and walked off. My eye twitched. _"Jerk. Crush my joy why don't you?"_

We moved down the long hallway/tunnel. _"Why do all underground labs have extremely long corridors? Don't they have experiments they have to transport quickly? This is stupid."_We passed through the door at the end of the tunnel where a Blue barrier went up. _"At least this one is for a puzzle."_

As we walked further in I realized we were standing on a game board of some kind. _"Oh please tell me it's not a chess game like _Harry Potter_I hate chess."_As we stepped on the middle of the board we turned to investigate a noise. _"Holy crap! Where did they come from?"_I moved closer to get a good look at the life-like statues of Nero and I that had appeared _"These are pretty- Hey. Wait. Are those _holding hands?!_Oh my god They Are!"_My stomach twisted itself into knots and I knew my face was red. I glanced over at Nero and spotted a light blush dusting his cheeks, but he was acting like it was nothing as he walked closer to his statue. As soon as he got within touching distance of his statue a large die fell from the ceiling and landed on the board.

I jerked in surprise. _"This is either going to be an interesting game or a game I will take pleasure in burning into ash."_

My thoughts were interrupted by a voice reading a riddle even though no one but us was here.

'_**Concerning life and death in this hell, we are the ones who weave that spell. If moving forward is what you intend, then guiding your other self to the door is what we recommend. And now your fate we decide, Strike us, or your progress will be denied.'**_

I glanced at the door and back to our statues _"Well isn't that creepy."_

**-20 minutes later-**

"Damn this is annoying" Nero hissed as our pieces went backwards again. I sighed and rubbed my temples, this game was giving me a headache. Turns out our pieces would move at the same time since they're holding hands and all.

So far we've gone backwards a couple times, and the colored spaces each did something different.

For example: Purple spaces brought demons, while blue ones brought red orbs which we use at stores or so says Nero. Yellow spaces move you forward or back depending in which one you landed on.

I sighed and watched the die spin itself around. One, five, three, one, two, six, two…Nero used buster on it and I watched the die fly through the air and land on a…two? My eyes narrowed. I glanced at the spaces left before we were finished while Nero ran around collecting Red Orbs and storing them God knows where. _"Hmm…Four spaces…Two from here is a blue space…let's see if I'm right"_Nero moved to hit the die but I interrupted him "Wait!"

Nero stopped "What is it?" he noticed my narrowed eye look and looked back at the die.

"_Five, three, four, one, four, four…two!"_ "Hit it now Nero!" Nero didn't ask questions and Snatched the dice into the air. I watched it waiting. It landed on a two "Hah! Take that you stupid game! I. Freakin. Win!" Nero was staring at me even as he gathered more Red Orbs. I was doing a mini-victory dance right them though so I didn't say anything. The die landed on the ground again and started spinning. I watched it and snapped out "Hit it now Nero!" the die was snatched into the air again and we were clear. "Ha!"

"What did you do?" Nero asked as he watched the Blue barrier shatter.

"I rigged the dice game. I only just now noticed though. As long as you hit the die with your Devil Bringer the die landed on whatever number was on the top at the time of your hit."

He gave me a considering look. "Nice call."

I nodded at him as we walked into the next room where Nero's arm started glowing blue._"That's odd."_A giant glass window separated us from another room where I could faintly see a sword that had been split in two. _"Hmm…where have I seen that sword before?"_I glanced back at Nero's glowing Devil Bringer which he had clenched into a fist. _"Is his Devil Bringer reacting to the sword, or is the sword calling to his arm?"_My thoughts were interrupted as a man entered the scene wearing a white lab like outfit with gold and orange running through some areas. He walked with his back hunched over and he appeared to be examining some notes he had in his hand. His brown hair was pulled into a pony tail while some of his hair hung down in the front, a gold monocle rested in one of his eyes.

I stared in horror at him _"Oh My God. I SO CALLED IT! CREEPER SCIENTIST!"_my stomach twisted as my bad feeling came back worse than before. Nero slowly walked over and I followed closely behind him.

The creeper spoke to us through an intercom "So you've come." He looked up at us "Just as I'd expected."

"Who the hell are you?" Nero asked bluntly.

I snickered a little _"At least he gets right to the point."_

"I am Agnus" he told us bowing.

I cocked my head to the side and stared at him. _"Not a very original name there, but who am I kidding? My name's Ashe; when people hear my name they think of Pokémon."_

"Working in secrecy, very few p-p-p-privy to my existence" he continued.

I could feel my face blank completely _"He has a stuttering problem. The Creeper Scientist has a Stuttering Problem."_ My lips twitched. _"A Stuttering Creeper."_

Nero didn't react to him at all and simply walked around the area while I followed behind him. _"Something is wrong. I can feel it. I don't know what it is, but I can feel it."_

"Funny, to figure an order official out for a stroll in hellhole kinda place like this" Nero stated turning back to face Agnus.

Agnus straightened sharply for a second. "'Hellhole!?' Watch your words!" he shouted pointing at Nero.

I jerked a little when he yelled since he had used a softer voice before this and I hadn't expected it.

Nero rolled his eyes as Agnus continued talking.

"Just as foul mouthed as I had heard…the rumors prove true" he said.

"_Nero doesn't have a good reputation in Fortuna? Well that's not surprising. Everyone here is really weird…except Kyrie. She's not."_

"As will the new ones concerning your d-d-d-demise!" he sneered.

"Don't you think that's a little harsh? Killing me because of the way I t-t-t-t-talk?" Nero asked mimicking Agnus by stuttering. I let out a small laugh which made Nero smirk.

Agnus smirked and raised his hand which held his pen and waved it downwards. Instantly demons flew out from the sides, and flew around us.

"Great…more demons" Nero muttered as he grabbed Red Queen. I sighed as I grabbed my bow and prepared an arrow.

"This, this is all Credo's doing. It was Credo who ordered you to follow Dante, it was Credo who brought you here. The girl was a miscalculation" Agnus said walking back and forth.

"_Whoa wait. Credo's doing? Kyrie's brother? And what does he mean I was a_miscalculation_?"_ I paused _"Never mind. I can see how I'm a miscalculation."_

"Dante? You mean the man who killed his Holiness?" Nero asked looking at Agnus. "What the hell is going on here?" he asked again waving his sword.

"I don't have to answer to you. For you two are already as good as d-d-d-d-dead" Agnus told us as he continued writing in his notebook.

"Like hell!" I shouted to him.

"I beg to differ" Nero stated at the same time.

And then the demons started attacking us as we began another Boss Battle where our objective was to kill the demons here while also destroying the glass window that separated us from Agnus. _"Ugh! These stupid demons are shaped like swords! I hate this."_Nero quickly grabbed one that was in sword form and threw it against the window where the force caused it to crack but not break fully. That's when an idea sparked.

"Nero, keep the demons preoccupied while I put my target skills to the test!" I shouted to him over Agnus' laughing.

"Ok" he called back.

I strung back an arrow just as an alarm sounded the floor began to glow.

"Ashe!" Nero shouted as he grabbed my hand causing me to release my arrow too early where it hit the metal wall. Nero pushed me up on to the only thing to stand on in the room, and I was quick to realize why.

Agnus was trying to electrocute us.

My eyes widened in shock and I yanked Nero up with me.

Electricity crackled and hissed around us as the floor became electrified and the demons still attacked us. Nero shielded me till the electricity was over.

"Better shoot as many arrows as you can before he lights the floor up" he told me before jumping back into the fight. I nodded but I stayed on the pedestal like area and aimed another arrow.

I took a deep breath and aimed for the crack Nero had put in the glass earlier. I shot an arrow and smiled when the crack widened. I notched another one and shot again and again causing the crack to slowly widen.

Nero seemed to understand what I was doing since he began chucking demons left and right at it.

Sure enough the force of my arrows and the force of his throws fully smashed the window open.

Nero grabbed my waist and jumped through just as Agnus fell backwards onto the glass covered ground his notebook skidding away a couple feet. Nero held Red Queen on his shoulder while I kept an arrow at the ready.

"Tha-th-th-that's demonic power!" he stuttered in shock and slight happiness pointing at Nero's arm.

"How can it be?" he asked awe struck.

I rolled my eyes_"What does it matter how? It suits him. It's a part of him."_

"Look who's talking Jackass. Answer my question" Nero demanded pointing his sword at Agnus who stood up and let out a girly shriek.

"_Pansy."_

"What the hell is going on here?" Nero demanded a firm look of resolve on his face.

"How Profound" Agnus said staring at Nero's arm in awe. "It's magnificent. I wonder…is the young l-l-l-lady a demon too, her eyes there two different colors" he smiled walking towards us in his hunch back way causing us both to back up. Nero shoved me behind him and glared at Agnus.

"_Why would my eyes make me a demon? They're rare yeah, but not demonic."_

"Did you hear him?" I asked as Nero swung his sword again, but, this time Agnus caught it easily. My eyes widened a bit.

"If you want answers, then I shall give them to you" he said as he walked closer to us and we backed up another step. Nero made sure he was between me and Agnus.

Agnus started going on a rant about his research, how it has only been a few years, and the potential available to people if he could manage to isolate and bind demonic power so the world could be conquered.

"_That…explains the bad instant dislike of the Order. Wanting to take over the world kinda makes me dislike you."_I stared at Agnus as he kept ranting _"Ok, so basically…Hell Gates plus demons plus possibly the Savior means Domination over the World for him. _So_ no happening. And what is he saying about his Holiness and the others being Reborn as Angels?"_I scoffed mentally. _"So Sanctus is alive again? If he's not a demon I'll eat my shoe."_

I was pulled from my thought when two Bianco Angelos struck Nero and pinned him to a wall.

"Nero!" I screamed running over to him. He couldn't move his arms what so ever he was stuck in place. I grabbed on to the edge of the handle of the spear and began tugging on it. I rested my foot on the wall and tried pulling it like that, but it was futile effort and it didn't work.

Agnus appeared behind us with the Angelos as well. Again he began talking about stuff I didn't care about. I only cared about Nero at the moment!

"You should rest" Agnus said slowly. And before I could react he stabbed Nero straight through with one of the demon like swords and let go, leaving it there. I let out a scream as Nero's head flew upwards and blood spurted from his mouth. He head fell down again as he coughed up blood.

Tears prickled the edges of my eyes as Agnus said he would use him as an experiment.

"I'll start with the girl first though, her eyes are quite beautiful" he smiled as he looked at me.

"Never" Nero stated spitting blood in his face. Agnus shoved the sword demon further in him and pulled it out.

"Nero!" I cried again going towards him but Agnus got in my way.

"You have been a nuisance to the Order ever since you mysteriously arrived" he stated striking me in the face.

I let out a cry of pain as I smashed into the ground, blood tricked out of my mouth and down my cheek.

"Kill them" Agnus stated. The Bianco Angelos then started towards us, my eyes widened in fear as two advanced towards Nero while one headed towards me.

"Nero" I whispered as a couple tears escaped my eyes. _"I can't die here! I _can't!_I have to protect Daemon! I have to! Older siblings are born first so they can protect the little ones that come after them! I can't die yet! I have a job to do!"_"Nero!" I cried as more tears descended.

"Kyrie, ASHE!" I heard Nero shout and that's when things went ludicrous. Power surged through the area as the demons were pushed away from us and died on impact with the wall. Agnus went flying but was fine since he was apparently a giant bug.

I stared at him._"Well shit. I'm going to need a _really_big can of Raid."_I turned to face Nero and was surprised to see his eyes glowing a sharp crimson red with a large blue apparition standing behind him while he was holding the previously broken sword in his hand as an unblemished blade. _"It's Yamato! It's Vergil's sword, that's where I've seen it before!"_

Nero stalked towards Agnus and growled at him.

Nothing Agnus said after Nero moved reached my ears. I was only focused on Nero. I wasn't surprised when I realized I wasn't frightened of him at all. This was Nero. A more dangerous, powerful, more instinctive Nero, but Nero none the less and he wouldn't hurt me.

"From that day forth….my arm changed" Nero began. His voice was mixed in with another's, his devil side.

"And a voice echoed….'Power, Give me more power.' And if I become a demon so be it" he stated.

I knew there was no possibility of Nero being like the others. He was himself and it was that simple.

"I will endure the exile…..anything to protect her" he said before swinging Yamato. There was a glowing blue slash that missed Agnus by a few inches and slashed clear through the ceiling above him leaving a gaping hole which Agnus was quick to escape through.

Nero de-triggered and Yamato absorbed into his arm. He fell to the ground and searched for the wound that was no longer there. I slowly stood up and walked towards him as he began laughing and then muttering about getting to headquarters and Credo knowing something.

"Nero" I whispered.

Nero's head whipped in my direction, his eyes wide with shock "Ashe are you…" he started, but, I didn't let him finish as I ran into him and gave him a hug. I was sure, traces of my tears were still on my face but I didn't care.

"I'm so glad you're ok" I whispered burying my head into the crook of his neck. There was a shocked moment of silence before his arms wrapped around me to return the embrace.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes. I thought…I thought…." I leaned back and trailed my hands over his chest where the sword had been imbedded. I looked up into his eyes "Thank you for surviving." I buried my face back into his neck and tried to calm my still racing heart.

"Y-you're welcome. I didn't hurt you did I?"

"I pulled back to look at him in shock "No!"

He pulled away and scratched his nose. "I know I Devil Triggered but I don't remember much except feeling angry."

I pulled away as well so we were standing in front of each other "Nero you wouldn't hurt me. Not even Devil Triggered. You're still you, and I trust you." I smiled and rubbed the back of my head blushing.

Now that the moment had passed I was sort of embarrassed I had reacted the way I had and I had even rubbed my hands over his chest.

I wasn't the only blushing one though. Once I had finished talking Nero had stared at me with shock before his entire face heated with a blush. He looked down and scratched his nose again. I grinned at the sight of the endearingly adorable habit.

**XxxXxx**

**Alex: Yep took me a while to finish this chapter but it's here at last so please review. And look out for new chapters to this story and Little Gem.**

**Wolf: Woo Man. Wow. That was a lot. A little over 16 pages typed to go over. ALEX! I AM PROUD OF YOU! LOOK AT ALL THIS! –cough- Anyway as always R&R and I'll see you next chapter with Alex!**


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